Smooth Hammerhead
Sphyrna zygaena
- Vulnerable
- Card rarity: Rare
- Sharks and rays
The smooth hammerhead is a species of hammerhead shark, and part of the family Sphyrnidae. This species is named "smooth hammerhead" because of the distinctive shape of the head, which is flattened and laterally extended into a hammer shape, without an indentation in the middle of the front margin. Unlike other hammerheads, this species prefers temperate waters and occurs worldwide at medium latitudes. In the summer, these sharks migrate towards the poles following cool water masses, sometimes forming schools numbering in the hundreds to thousands.
Classification
- Class
- Chondrichthyes
- Order
- Carcharhiniformes
- Family
- Sphyrnidae
- Genus
- Sphyrna