Hammerfish: how the shark became food

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:55

The hammerhead fish, belonging to the order of carcharine-like sharks, has long enjoyed a bad reputation among sailors. And it cannot be said that this predatory fish was more dangerous than other sharks. The white shark is much more voracious, more active, meaner, after all, than the hammerhead fish. No, the latter also eats everything that moves, and will eat a person if it gets on the tooth, but it is far from the white shark and many other fellows according to the zoological classification.

Who says that in the hierarchy of danger the hammerhead fish takes the third place (leaving ahead also the tiger shark), who claims that it is even more peaceful.

Why is the hammerhead so sinister? First of all, due to the fact that they always pay more attention to it because of the unusual shape of the head. It was the silhouette of this shark, resembling a hammer with a handle, that gave it its name. The predator, of course, looks impressive, so the hammerhead fish, whose photo is adorned by many exhibition stands, is one of the symbols of the ocean. Photos sharksin general, they look advantageous: strong, dexterous, ruthless predators will not leave anyone indifferent.

There is little news about the attack of this shark on a person, but a starving hammerhead fish is very dangerous. This six-meter predator has sharp teeth, and in the process of evolution has acquired the qualities of a born killer. True, in normal, not extreme conditions, it feeds mainly on fish and shellfish. There is a known case when a rather large stingray was found in her stomach, and once even (but this is completely from the field of sea tales) and a man - the shark allegedly swallowed him whole!

The hammerhead is viviparous, and in "one sitting" can produce up to fifty small "hammers". Fish live in flocks, however, small in number. In search of food, they constantly wander, swimming to where the smell of food came from.

The shark's eyes are located on the edges of the hammerhead head, and theoretically, the area directly in front of its nose is a "dead zone" that the shark simply does not see. But it is not recommended for anyone to check on their own experience whether this is actually the case. After all, hammerhead fish, like any shark, navigates in the water column mainly by smell and sound, and vision plays only an auxiliary role. And then, as soon as the shark changes the position of the head even a little (turn to the side, for example), the "dead zone" will become such for the experimenter in the most literal sense.

Why does the fish have such an unusual head shape? This question has long tormented zoologists. The answer to it was foundrecently. It turned out that the flat, hammer-shaped head is a natural electromagnetic locator, and such an unusual shape is needed for its effective operation - scanning the surrounding space in search of food.

It is possible that a shark needs a head of this shape to use it as an additional fin. It's no secret that the hammerhead is much more agile and maneuverable in the water than other sharks. It is such a perfect organism that it could quickly breed in huge numbers, if not for the person who catches this predator, regulating its numbers.

As they say, not everything is a carnival for a cat, and a predator that eats everything around it often becomes food itself. According to gourmets, hammerhead fish fin soup is an unearthly delicacy. Meat, they say, is also tasty, but it is far from a fin fish soup - both in terms of gastronomic achievements and in terms of price.