Shark Week GIF of the Day: Great Hammerhead Shark
Everything around it looks like a nail to the great hammerhead, a distinctive-looking predator of deep waters, coastal stretches and coral reefs.
Hammerhead sharks are probably the most distinctive looking of sharks, with their, well, hammer-shaped heads. And of the eight hammerhead species, the great hammerhead is, as its name suggests, the largest of all.
These fearsome, migratory creatures can be found worldwide in coastal waters, on the continental shelf, and out in deep ocean waters. They'll also ply their trade among coral reefs and in lagoons. They will eat fish, squid, octopus, and crustaceans. And they have a special fondness for eating stingrays.
Great hammerheads are big sharks, on a par in length with great whites. The biggest great hammerheads can in some cases reach 20 feet long, although they usually strain to exceed 12 feet. Great hammerhead moms can have anywhere from half a dozen to more than 50 pups in a litter, usually giving birth every two years.
The width of its cephalofoil -- its ominous "hammer" -- is about a quarter of a great hammerhead's body length, the structure itself nearly straight along the front. Great hammerheads will carry this unique appearance throughout a lifetime that can last up to 40 years.