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Taxonomy
Taxonomy
Binomial Name: Sphyrna mokarran
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichtheyes
Order: Carcharhiniformes
Family: Sphyrnidae
Genus: Sphyrna
Species: S. mokarran
Evolution
Evolution
Sharks are one of the most evolutionary successful species to live, being able to adapt easily in the ocean environment, surviving through many mass events of extinction. Sharks in general date back to 450 million years ago, but the hammerhead shark species itself appeared in our oceans roughly 20 million years ago in the Miocene epoch.
The hammerhead shark species is included in the Sphyrnidae family, along with bonnethead sharks. There are 10 identified hammerhead shark species recognized today, all ranging in different shapes and lengths of their wide, flattened heads. How these unique sharks evolved into a separate genus of their own is still somewhat a puzzle to many, it is said hammerheads are part of a monophyletic group derived from the carcharhinids. Looking at the phylogenetic tree above, you can see a great difference in the heads of the first hammerhead shark and the most recent species. Between the Winghead Shark and the Bonnethead Shark, the most recent species, you can see how the size of the heads have greatly decreased over time.
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