Smooth Hammerhead

Sphyrna zygaena

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Elasmobranchii
Order: Carcharhiniformes
Family: Sphyrnidae
Genus: Sphyrna
Species: Sphyrna zygaena

The smooth hammerhead (Sphyrna zygaena) is a large hammerhead shark reaching around 4 m. Its broad, flattened head has a smoothly curved front edge with no notch in the middle, which separates it from the scalloped and great hammerheads.

It prefers cooler, temperate to subtropical waters than its relatives and feeds on bony fish, squid, smaller sharks and rays. Juveniles sometimes form large schools near the surface. The species is listed as Vulnerable.

In the Philippines the smooth hammerhead is considered uncommon and is mostly known from fisheries records in offshore waters. Divers are far more likely to encounter the scalloped hammerhead.

Photo: Ben Jobson, CC BY 4.0, via iNaturalist