Great Hammerhead sharks mature around 3 meters, and between age 5 and 9 yeas old. Male hammerheads mature faster them females.
Great hammerhead sharks are ovoviviparous reproducers. When hammerhead sharks are sexually mature, they will begin mating. A male hammerhead will aggressively bite the female until she agrees to mate. They will use electroreception to engage in coitus, which they will do while facing each other, and near the waters surface.
The male hammerhead will use claspers (modified pelvic fins) to insert into the the female's cloaca, and release his sperm into the oviduct , fertilizing her eggs,.
Great hammerhead females will breed every 2 years. Gestation will be approximately 11 months.
The pups will hatch in the womb, from an egg. After hatching the pup will be considered and embryo. They will stay in the mother stomach acquiring nutrients from the remaining yolk, and glandular secretions. When the yolk and glandular secretions are not enough to feed the developing embryo, they will eat the unfertilized eggs. When that is not enough, the baby sharks have evolved a new way to get nutrients by eating developing eggs, this called oophagy.
In a litter between 6 - 56 the pups are born, they immediately swim away from their mother out of fear of being eaten. They will swim in a group, to a warmer shallow area closer to shore, where they will stay hidden from predator's, and continue to grow.
Life Cycle:
Egg
Juvenile
Adult