Footage of hundreds of baby scalloped hammerheads (Sphyrna lewini) swimming together off the coast of Australia is a wonderful sight for shark lovers. Scalloped hammerheads are a critically endangered species, so researchers rejoice when they see aggregations like this.
Olaf Meynecke, a research fellow at Griffith University, said researchers first saw these baby scalloped hammerheads last year at Burleigh Heads off Australia’s Gold Coast. Researchers saw the sharks again this past spring and took some spectacular video footage.
In one video, you can watch as a diver (Clint Karger) swims above a mass of scalloped hammerheads. As he swims, the hammerheads are everywhere, and the group never seems to end.
Watch hundreds of baby hammerheads swim together here (truly, the more you look, the more you see):
About Scalloped Hammerheads and Shark Finning
Scalloped hammerhead sharks have the trademark hammer-shaped head, though their “hammer heads” aren’t quite as wide as they are in other species, like the great hammerhead. Scalloped hammerhead sharks grow to be up to 11 feet long.
Commercial fishing threatens this species. IUCN says hammerhead fins are the “main shark species in the fin trade” and “one of the preferred species for shark fin soup. “Shark finning” involves slicing the fins off live sharks, tossing them back in the water, then leaving them to die.