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1. Do not wear shiny objects such as jewelry, because sharks
are attracted to them.
2.Do not wear red because the shark might think you are
wounded and will think you are easier to catch.
3.Do not swim around docks or high current areas where
sharks like to hang around because the current stirs up the bait fish.
4.Do not swim alone because if you do the shark will have an
easier time homing in on you.
5.Do not splash about wildly or the shark might think you are
a thrashing wounded fish.
6.If you have a cut do not go into the water until it stops
bleeding.
7.Do not go in an area where sharks have been spotted.
They often stay in one place for several weeks.
8.Do not think of playing with a shark because a 4 foot
shark can easily over power a full grown man.
9.If you are attacked by a shark, beat it's gills and under
its nose. If you can get away try to. The gills and under its
nose are very sensitive organs and can stun the shark for a while.
and the best way to avoid a shark attack
10. Stay on the beach!
The Great Hammerhead Shark is a wonderful and majestic creature
which inhabits the oceans. It is feared by most people but is relatively
harmless. In this report I will tell you about this large fish.
This shark is very cleverly camouflaged. It has a tan, brown
topside and if its prey is looking down on the shark, will see the
top of the shark which resembles the sandy bottom of the ocean. If its
prey is looking up from underneath the shark it will see the creamy
white belly of the Hammerhead which resembles the bright surface of
the ocean.
Its body structure is well built for hunting. Its strong tail
helps to propel it through the water enabling it to catch fast fish.
An organ called the Ampullae of Lorenzi covers the "hammer". This
organ consists of small pores that can sense electric charges put off
by other fish, stingrays, and mammals. It is especially helpful for
finding food that is buried underneath the sand and is not visible to
the shark. Its eyes and nostrils are on each side of its hammer shaped
head and when, while swimming, the shark swings its head from side to
side it has a large view. Its primary food is fish and mammals but it
also eats crabs, stingrays, and squid. Its head is believed to be used
for two different reasons. It gives the shark lift while swimming, sort
of like an airplane's wings. It also uses its head to batter and
immobilize stingrays before eating them. The "hammer" can grow to be 3
feet wide. The shark's body itself can grow to be between 15 and 18 ft in
length.
This shark prefers warm, tropical, shallow waters around the
world. During the Summer it migrates in packs of up to 100 or more
to the cooler waters. Why it migrates in such large groups is not
entirely known.
The hammerhead shark gives birth to live young. Each fertilized
egg develops in a separate egg sack and each pup gets food and oxygen
through an umbilical cord. This way of reproducing is called
viviparous. There are usually 4 to 37 pups and each are about 70 cm
long or about 24 1/2 inches.
When people think of sharks they think of a large fin, breaking
the surface of the water and screaming people suddenly being dragged under
the water only to find themselves inside a toothy, black abyss. This
is not necessarily so. There are some attacks, but the shark is not a
ruthless killer out to eat every living thing it finds, including
humans. Most attacks happen either when the person provokes the shark
or the shark mistakes the human for its regular prey. Most of the time,
this happens at dusk when the shark comes in to shallow water to feed.
These sharks were being hunted during the 1930's and the 1940's.
Their liver contains vitamin A. A large Hammerhead could fetch the
hunter up to $500. Now they are not being hunted anymore because there
are other ways to get vitamin A.
Not very many of these sharks are kept in captivity because of
their heads and the placement of the eyes. They occasionally scratch
their eyes on the glass as they swim around the tank. This makes them
very hard to study.
As you can see from this report this is a truly amazing shark. Odd
looking, yet graceful in its own way. Who knows what contribution
this shark will give to mankind in the future. Studies are already
being performed with shark cartilage and cancer research.
If you have any questions or comments
regarding this page just e-mail
me at: David Norton If I do not get
back to you within 48 hours please try
e-mailing me again.