Shark
Smooth Hammerhead
Sphyrna zygaena
A large hammerhead with a smoothly curved head lacking a central notch, ranging both KZN and Cape waters.
Also known as common hammerhead, gladde hamerkop, hammerhead smooth
- Typical size
- Commonly 2.5-3.5 m
- Habitat
- Coastal and offshore waters, surface to mid-water
- Depth
- Surface to about 200 m
The smooth hammerhead is a big, grey-brown to olive shark distinguished from other hammerheads by the smoothly rounded front edge of its broad head, which has no central indentation. Unusually tolerant of cooler water, it occurs from the warm KwaZulu-Natal coast right around to the southern and western Cape.
It feeds mainly on fish, rays and cephalopods, using its wide head to pin stingrays to the seabed. Generally wary of divers and not considered particularly dangerous, it is nonetheless a large shark deserving respect. Slow to reproduce, hammerheads are heavily impacted by fishing and are of conservation concern.