Species Profile No. 25: The Carolina Hammerhead Shark (Sphyrna gilberti) When new species are discovered, it’s usually a small animal, like an insect or amphibian. So imagine the excitement of scientists when they discovered a new, large species of hammerhead! The first recorded Carolina hammerhead was found in 1967, but the researcher who found it - Dr. Carter Gilbert, the inspiration for the species’s binomial name - believed that he had simply found an abnormal scalloped hammerhead with fewer vertebrae. This wasn’t known to be a separate species till a physiological and genetic analysis was published in 2013, formally recognizing the Carolina hammerhead as its own species. The study can be found here: https://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2013/f/zt03702p178.pdf The Carolina hammerhead looks identical to the scalloped hammerhead, which presumably means they grow to be similar sizes, and the two species are very closely related. Besides its physical traits and genetics, nothing is known about this shark. The Carolina hammerhead is yet to be assessed by the IUCN. Since it is similar to the scalloped hammerhead, an Endangered species, it’s possible that this newly discovered shark could be the victim of heavy overfishing. The only way we’ll be able to know is to research them, so make sure to support the research and conservation of poorly understood sharks by supporting the IUCN Shark Specialist Group and Shark Advocates International. ••••••••••••••••••••••••• #hammerheadprofiles #shark #sharks #hammerhead #hammerheadshark #carolinahammerhead #diversesharks #sharkeducation #savesharks #savethesharks #helpsavesharks #bycatch #overfishing https://www.instagram.com/p/BwdA-MDBbbg/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=madpy6k6lj5m