Puzzle 65 · Ocean Giants and Reef Life · Page 99 in print

Scalloped Hammerhead

Scalloped hammerhead sharks sometimes gather in schools of several hundred; their broad heads carry widely spaced eyes and sensory organs used to detect prey.

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Scalloped hammerheads swim above pale seafloor in the Galápagos.

Scalloped hammerheads swim above pale seafloor in the Galápagos.

Species reference for Scalloped Hammerhead. The photograph does not necessarily show the population or place named in the puzzle.

(c) Charlotte Kirchner, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY 4.0 · Original record
Image changes

Resized and converted to JPEG for display; no subject alteration.

The hammer-shaped head of a scalloped hammerhead is visible from above.

The hammer-shaped head of a scalloped hammerhead is visible from above.

Species reference for Scalloped Hammerhead. The photograph does not necessarily show the population or place named in the puzzle.

(c) Michael Bommerer, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY 4.0 · Original record
Image changes

Resized and converted to JPEG for display; no subject alteration.

The words

  1. Bycatch

    Being caught by accident in fishing gear.

    Bycatch as a threat to scalloped hammerheads.

    NOAA Fisheries (opens a new tab)

  2. Cocos Island

    Large aggregations of adult scalloped hammerheads are common at Cocos Island.

    PLOS ONE (opens a new tab)

  3. Elasmobranch

    A member of the shark-and-ray group of cartilaginous fishes; the scalloped hammerhead belongs to this group.

    Animal Diversity Web (opens a new tab)

  4. Estuaries

    Scalloped hammerheads often enter bays and estuaries.

    Animal Diversity Web (opens a new tab)

  5. Hammerhead

    The broad, flattened head gives this shark group its name; the scalloped hammerhead has distinctive notches along the front.

    montereybayaquarium.org (opens a new tab)

  6. Head Ridges

    Ridges along the front edge of its head set it apart from other hammerheads.

    montereybayaquarium.org (opens a new tab)

  7. Malpelo

    Large aggregations of adult scalloped hammerheads are common at Malpelo, Colombia.

    PLOS ONE (opens a new tab)

  8. Nursery

    Larger coastal lagoons serve as hammerhead nursery habitat.

    PLOS ONE (opens a new tab)

  9. Placenta

    Embryos are nourished by a yolk-sac placenta.

    Animal Diversity Web (opens a new tab)

  10. Pups

    Hammerhead pups find their own food from birth.

    Animal Diversity Web (opens a new tab)

  11. Schooling

    Scalloped hammerheads swim in schools of several hundred.

    montereybayaquarium.org (opens a new tab)

  12. Sensing Organs

    Its broad head spreads the sensing organs that find buried prey.

    montereybayaquarium.org (opens a new tab)

  13. Sphyrna

    The scalloped hammerhead is Sphyrna lewini.

    NOAA Fisheries (opens a new tab)

  14. Stingrays

    Scalloped hammerheads find stingrays buried in the sand.

    montereybayaquarium.org (opens a new tab)

  15. Wide Set Eyes

    Its eyes sit at the extreme ends of its head.

    montereybayaquarium.org (opens a new tab)

Sources

  1. Scalloped Hammerhead (source capture)NOAA Fisheries
  2. Scalloped Hammerhead (source capture)PLOS ONE (peer-reviewed article, Nalesso et al. 2019), full text via Europe PMC
  3. Scalloped Hammerhead (source capture)Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology
  4. Scalloped Hammerheadwww.montereybayaquarium.org

How we choose sources and photographs