Hammerhead Shark

The great hammerhead shark has a wide, thick head with the eyes at the margins. The head is indented at the center of the "hammer," which is almost rectangular in shape. This shark is gray-brown above with an off-white belly. The first dorsal fin (the large fin on the top of the shark that most people associate with sharks) is very large and pointed.

Many of the hammerheads are harmless to people, but a few species, like the great hammerhead, can be very dangerous. The great hammerhead swims in warm and relatively warm water along the coastlines. They live over the continental shelves and the adjacent drop-off (the upper part of the mesopelagic zone) to depths of about 260 feet (80 m). The great hammerhead is found in tropical and sub-tropical waters worldwide.