Biology:Carolina hammerhead

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Short description: Species of shark

Carolina hammerhead
Carolinahmmrhd.jpg
CITES Appendix II (CITES)[2]
Scientific classification edit
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Subclass: Elasmobranchii
Subdivision: Selachimorpha
Order: Carcharhiniformes
Family: Sphyrnidae
Genus: Sphyrna
Species:
S. gilberti
Binomial name
Sphyrna gilberti
Quattro, Driggers, Grady, Ulrich & M. A. Roberts, 2013

The Carolina hammerhead (Sphyrna gilberti) is a species of hammerhead shark, and part of the family Sphyrnidae, found in the western Atlantic Ocean. Their pupping grounds are in nearshore waters off the southeastern U.S. with the highest concentrations found in Bulls Bay, South Carolina.[3] The Carolina hammerhead has also been found in nearshore waters off of Brazil.[4] It was formally described in 2013.[5] It is currently classified as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List due to overfishing and habitat degradation.

Little is known about the habits of the species. It is a sister species to S. lewini. The Carolina hammerhead is named in honor of Carter Gilbert, who unknowingly recorded the first known specimen of the shark off Charleston, South Carolina, in 1967.[6] Dr. Gilbert, who was the curator of the Florida Museum of Natural History from 1961–1998, caught what he believed was an anomalous scalloped hammerhead shark with 10 fewer vertebrae than a typical scalloped hammerhead. It was not confirmed to be a different species altogether until Quattro's discovery in 2013.

References

Wikidata ☰ Q15139804 entry