Sphyrna mokarran

The great hammerhead is the largest species of hammerhead shark, belonging to the family Sphyrnidae, attaining an average length of 4.6 m (15 ft) and reaching a maximum length of 6.2 m (20 ft). It is found around the globe in all the warmer parts of the oceans. The great hammerhead can be distinguished from other hammerheads by the shape of its "hammer", which is wide with an almost straight front margin, its tall, sickle-shaped first dorsal fin, and its strongly falcated pelvic fins. A solitary, strong-swimming apex predator, the great hammerhead feeds on a wide variety of prey ranging from crustaceans and cephalopods, to bony fish, to smaller sharks. Observations of this species in the wild suggest that the cephalofoil functions to immobilize stingrays, a favored prey. This species has a viviparous mode of reproduction, bearing litters of up to 2-49 pups every two years.

Sphyrna mokarran

Albert kok · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
great hammerheadPBDB
Sits inside
SphyrnaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Carcharhiniformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Carcharhiniformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Carcharhiniformes

Time the record covers

At least 14 million years on record.

The record covers at least 15.98 Mya to 1.8 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 774 ka.

Oligocene — about 0 of 14 occurrencesMiocene — about 12 of 14 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 14 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 1 of 14 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences17–17 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 1 occurrence11–10 Mya — about 1 occurrence10–9.6 Mya — about 1 occurrence9.6–8.8 Mya — about 1 occurrence8.8–8.0 Mya — about 1 occurrence8.0–7.3 Mya — about 1 occurrence7.3–6.5 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences6.5–5.7 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences5.7–4.9 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.9–4.2 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences4.2–3.4 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences1.8–1.1 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences1.1–274 ka Mya — about 0.3 occurrences15.98 Mya1.8 Mya23.5 Mya274 ka

14 occurrences of Sphyrna mokarran on record, most of them in the Miocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

14 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

9 formations

Seria — 4.81°N, 114.67°EChucunaque — 9.13°N, 78.75°WCaujarao — 11.50°N, 69.52°WLagunitas — 21.62°N, 79.53°WTirabuzón — 27.37°N, 112.29°WGatun — 9.35°N, 79.84°WAlajuela — 9.21°N, 79.59°WSables des Landes — 43.94°N, 0.75°WBermont — 27.70°N, 82.50°W

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The named rock units Sphyrna mokarran has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Sphyrna mokarran and its relatives

Miocene

Where Sphyrna mokarran and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

316 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 12 sites for Sphyrna mokarran, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

10 references

Each of the 14 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Sphyrna mokarran

Credit
Albert kok
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Photogrammetry

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Sphyrna mokarran · UF:EAComp:8092

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itSphyrna through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Rüppell 1837)