Great hammerhead
Scientific name: Sphyrna mokarran (Rüppell, 1837)
Overview
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.
From the Wikipedia article “Great hammerhead”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Conservation status
Critically endangered on the IUCN Red List, as recorded on Wikidata, citing The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022.2.
Where it lives
Common names
Also known in English as great hammerhead shark, Hammerhead Shark, Squat-headed Hammerhead Shark.
Names in other languages (9)
- Arabic
- قرش أبو مطرقة العظيم
- Chinese
- 八鰭丫髻鮫, 无沟双髻鲨, 無溝丫髻鯊, 無溝雙髻鯊, 犛頭沙, 雙過仔
- French
- Grand requin-marteau, Marieau Millet, Poisson Pantouflier, Sorosena
- German
- großer Hammerhai
- Indonesian
- Hiu martil besar
- Japanese
- ヒラシュモクザメ
- Russian
- акула-молот гигантская, Гигантская акула-молот
- Spanish
- Cornuda, cornuda gigante, El Tiburon, Guardia Civil, Pez Martillo, Tiburon
- Turkish
- Büyük çekiç başlı köpekbalığı, dev çekiçbaş
Related animals
Sources
-
Catalogue of Life — scientific name, classification, common names.
Version 2026-09-11, CC BY 4.0.
This species in the Catalogue of Life.
Citation
Bánki, O., Roskov, Y., Döring, M., Ower, G., Hernández Robles, D. R., Plata Corredor, C. A., Stjernegaard Jeppesen, T., Örn, A., Pape, T., Hobern, D., Garnett, S., Little, H., DeWalt, R. E., Miller, J., Orrell, T., Aalbu, R., Abbott, J., Aedo, C., Aescht, E., et al. (2026). Catalogue of Life (Version 2026-09-11). Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgz5n Source database: FishBase.
- GBIF — species page and recorded occurrences.
- Wikidata — conservation status, names in other languages. Q757353, CC0 1.0.
- Wikipedia — overview, from the article “Great hammerhead”, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Photo — Josh Hallett from Winter Haven, FL, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. File page.
- Range map — BlankMap-World6.svg: Canuckguy (talk) and many others (see File history) Sphyrna_mokarran_distmap.png: Chris_huh derivative work: Ninjatacoshell (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. File page.
Last updated: 4 October 2026