Author: (Griffith & Smith, I834)

Sphyrna lewini (Griffith & Smith, I834)

Diagnosis: head with anterior contour moderately convex. scalloped in the midline and opposite each nostril. head widely expanded laterally (hammer), corners of mouth anterior to outer posterior corners of head; eyes large, far from nostrils, being separated by a distance only slightly less than horizontal eye diameter; centre of eyes opposite or posterior to front of mouth; prenarial grooves developed; teeth triangular, smoothedged or rarely slightly serrated in old specimens; fifth gill opening shorter than other four and behind origin of nectorals. Posterior lobe of first dorsal fin anterior to origin of pelvic fins: free posterior tip of second dorsal considerably longer than its anterior margin, extending nearly to pre-caudal pit; pelvic fins low and not falcate. Colour: light grey to greyish-brown or olivaceous above, shading to white below; pectoral fin tip black ventrally: Size: to about 4.2 m., usually to 3.6 m.

Habitat: coastal, epipelagic and semi-oceanic in tropic and warm areas over continental and insular shelves between the coast (bays and estuaries) and about 250 m depth, mainly at 10-25 m. Food: pelagic fishes, smaller sharks and rays, crabs, squids. Reproduction: viviparous.

Distribution: warm temperate and tropical Atlantic coasts, also Mediterranean. Elsewhere, circumglobal in tropical and warm temperate waters (western Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans).

Complementary iconography. Herald, 1961, right fig. on p. 30.
Larvae and young stages. Bigelow & Schroeder, 1948: 418.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Subphylum Vertebrata
Superclass Gnathostomata
Class Chondrichthyes
Superorder Pleurotremata
Family Sphyrnidae
Genus Sphyrna
Species Sphyrna lewini

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Sphyrna lewini (Griffith & Smith, 1834)

Scientific synonyms and common names

Sphyrna lewini (Griffith & Smith, I834)

Synonyms:

Sphyrna lewini (Griffith & Smith, 1834)
Zygaena lewini Grifflth & Smith, in Cuvier, Griffith & Smith, 1834, Animal kingdom, 10: 640, pl . 50 (south coast of New Holland). No type apparently extant.
? Cestrorhinus caroliniensis Blainville, 1816, Bull. soc. philomath. Paris: 121 (name only; no locality).
? Cestrorhinus pictus Blainville, 1816, ibid.: 121 (name only; no locality).
?Zygaena indica Van Hasselt, 1823, Algemeene Konst- en Letterbode voor het jaar 1823, 20: 315 (Java).
Sphyrna lewini: Duméril, 1858: 261 Springer, 1941: 46-52 Fraser-Brunner, 1950: 213-219 Tortonese, l950a: 21-28 Clark & von Schmidt, 1965: 62, fig. 6 Gilbert, 1967: 37-45, fig. 10, 21d, 22d, pl. 3, 6B, l0B.
Cestracion leeuwenii Day, 1865, Fish. Malabar: 271 (emended spelling of lewini; Malabar).
Zygaena erythraea Ehrenberg, in Klunzinger, 1871, Verh. zool.-bot. Ges. Wien, 21: 666 (Red Sea).
Zygaena leuwinii Ramsay, 1881, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. 5. W., 5: 96 (emended spelling of lewini).
Cestracion oceanica Garman, 1913, Mem. Mus. comp. Zool., 36: 158-159 (Soaety Islands). Syntypes: MCZ, no. 460 (3 spec.), USNM, no. 153587 (1 spec.).
Sphyrna diplana Springer, 1941, Proc. Fla. Acad. Sci., S (1940): 46-52 (Englewood, Florida). Holotype: USNM no. 108451.
Sphyrna diplana: Bigelow & Schroeder, 1948: 415-420, fig. 81 Baughman & Springer, 1950: 123-125, pl. 13 Fraser-Brunner, 1950: 213-219 Tortonese, l950a: 21-28.
Sphyrna oceanica: Fraser-Brunner, l950b: 213-219 Tortonese, l950a: 21-28.

Common names:

Scalloped hammerhead [En]
Requin-marteau halicorne [Fr]
Cornuda común [Es]

Baughman, J. L.; Springer, S. 1950. Biological and economic notes on the sharks of the Gulf of Mexico, with special reference to those of Texas and with a key for their identification. Am. Midl. Nat., 44 (1): 96-152, 19 fig.

Bigelow, H. B.; Schroeder, W. C. 1948b. Sharks. In: Fishes of the western north Atlantic. Mem. Sears Found. Mar. Res., New Haven, 1(1): 59-576, fig. 6-106.

Blainville, H. M. Ducrotay de. 1816. Prodrome d'une nouvelle distribution systématique du règne animal. Bull. Soc. philomath. Paris, 8 :105 (=113)-124.

Clark, E.; Schmidt, K. von. 1965. Sharks of the central Gulf coast of Florida. Bull. mar. Sci. Gulf Caribb., 15 (1) :13-83.

Cuvier, G.1834. The animal kingdom . . . by the Baron Cuvier . . . with additional descriptions of species . . . by E. Griffith, C. H. Smith (and P. B. Lord), Pisces 10: 680 p., 62 pl.

Day, F. 1865a. The Fishes of Malabar. London, 293 p., 20 col. pl.

Fraser-Brunner, A. 1950b. A synopsis of the hammerhead sharks (Sphyrna), with description of a new species. Rec. Aust. Mus., 22 (3): 213-219.

Garman, S. 1913. The Plagiostomia (Sharks, Skates, and Rays). Mem. Mus. comp. Zool. Harv., 36: xiii+528 p., 77 pl.

Gilbert, C. R.1967. A revision of the hammerhead sharks. Proc. U.S. natn. Mus., 119 (3539): 1-88, pl. 1-10.

Hasselt, J. C. van. 1823. Uittreksel uit een Brief van Dr. J. C. van Hasselt aan den Heer C. J. Temminck. Alg. Konst. Letterbode Haarlem, (20): 315-317.

Klunzinger, C. B. 1871. Synopsis der Fische des Rothen Meeres. II. Verh. zool.-bot. Ges., Wien, 21: 441-668.

Ramsay, E. P. 1881. Notes on Galeocerdo rayneri, with a list of other sharks taken in Port Jackson. Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S. W., 5: 95-97.

Springer, S. 1941. A new species of Hammerhead shark of the genus Sphyrna. Proc. Fla. Acad Sci., 1940 [1941], 5: 46-52, 6 fig., 1 pl.

Tortonese, E. 1950a. Studi sui Plagiostomi, 2: Evoluzione, corologia e sistematica della famiglia Sphyrnidae (Pesci martello). Boll Musei Zool Anat. comp. R. Univ. Torino, 2(2):1-39,11fig.

For further info about Sphyrna lewini, you can also look up this species under:

You can continue searching for Sphyrna lewini on one of these Web sites:

Fauna Europaea (animals) | IOPI (plants) | NCBI (genetic)

Google | Yahoo | MSN | Wikipedia