Q 01/05

What is the scientific name for the hammerhead shark family?

A) Sphyrnidae

B) Carcharhinidae

C) Lamnidae

D) Sphyraenidae

Answer · why

A) Sphyrnidae

Sphyrna is Greek for hammer; Sphyraenidae, confusingly, are the barracudas.

Q 02/05

What is the technical name for the hammerhead's flattened, T-shaped head?

A) Rostrum

B) Cranial keel

C) Hydrofoil crest

D) Cephalofoil

Answer · why

D) Cephalofoil

The eyes sit at each end and the small mouth directly underneath in the middle.

Q 03/05

Which hammerhead is the only species not placed in the genus Sphyrna?

A) The bonnethead

B) The great hammerhead

C) The winghead

D) The smooth hammerhead

Answer · why

C) The winghead

It has its own genus, Eusphyra, and proportionally the largest hammer of all.

Q 04/05

How wide can the hammer of the Eusphyra species be, as a fraction of its body length?

A) A tenth

B) Half

C) Equal

D) A quarter

Answer · why

B) Half

The species reaches only about 1.9 m long, so the hammer can span nearly a metre.

Q 05/05

How many living hammerhead species are there?

A) Three

B) Six

C) Ten

D) Eight

Answer · why

C) Ten

They range from the 6 m great hammerhead to the 1.5 m bonnethead.