Footage of a whole bunch of child scalloped hammerheads (Sphyrna lewini) swimming collectively off the coast of Australia is a superb sight for shark lovers. Scalloped hammerheads are a critically endangered species, so researchers rejoice once they see aggregations like this.
Olaf Meynecke, a analysis fellow at Griffith College, mentioned researchers first noticed these child scalloped hammerheads final yr at Burleigh Heads off Australia’s Gold Coast. Researchers noticed the sharks once more this previous spring and took some spectacular video footage.
In a single video, you’ll be able to watch as a diver (Clint Karger) swims above a mass of scalloped hammerheads. As he swims, the hammerheads are in every single place, and the group by no means appears to finish.
Watch a whole bunch of child hammerheads swim collectively right here (really, the extra you look, the extra you see):
About Scalloped Hammerheads and Shark Finning
Scalloped hammerhead sharks have the trademark hammer-shaped head, although their “hammer heads” aren’t fairly as large as they’re in different species, like the good hammerhead. Scalloped hammerhead sharks develop to be as much as 11 ft lengthy.
Industrial fishing threatens this species. IUCN says hammerhead fins are the “fundamental shark species within the fin commerce” and “one of many most well-liked species for shark fin soup. “Shark finning” entails slicing the fins off dwell sharks, tossing them again within the water, then leaving them to die.
