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This
picture shows a partial view of hammerhead pup swimming away after release from tagging.
The yellow peterson disk tag is visible in the dorsal fin. The clip in the dorsal fin,
which marks its location of capture (in the north part of the bay), is also visible just
above the tag. |
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This
picture shows the full shark; if you look closely you can see the black pigmentation on
the tips of the caudal (tail) fin. Some of the baby hammerheads also have black coloring
on their pectoral fins. |
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This
photo is of a hammerhead about tagged witha green rototag in its dorsal fin. The rototag
is one of the types of tags being tested in our outdoor ponds. We are also testing the PIT
(passive integrated transponder) tags and the peterson disk tags. |
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Many
of the hammerhead shark pups that we catch have bite marks from larger sharks. We know
that adult male hammerheads feed on the juvenile hammerheads in the bay and we have also
caught tiger and sandbar sharks in Kaneohe Bay. Any type of shark may be responsible for
these bites. |
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Hammerheads
are placed on padded measuring boards for tagging and measuring. In this picture I am
applying the dorsal fin tag.
|
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After
being the measured, tagged, and clipped, the hammerheads are weighed. An elastic band is
stretched around its head and the shark is weighed with a hanging spring scale. |
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We use a 'bubble' (half sphere filled with sea water) to transport sharks
from the bay back to the ponds. During transport, the sharks are held upside down in a
state of tonic imobility. |
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Once at the pond, the sharks are released. The whole process, from
catching and tagging to transport and release, takes under 10 minutes. |
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The outdoor pond at Coconut Island where the hammerheads in the 'Growth
and Tagging Experiment' are kept is a semi-natural environment with natural water
flushing, live corals, and reef fish. The hammerheads (and the hungry damselfish, puffer
fish, and eels) are fed to satiation three times a week. |
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This
is a picture of an adult hammerhead caught on a longline in Kaneohe Bay. You can see the
large dorsal fin and relatively small pectoral fins. |
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A head shot, showing the subterminal mouth and laterally expanded
hammerhead 'hammer'. |
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This shark is a male, as evidenced by the large paired claspers next to
the sharks' pelvic fins. |
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When this shark was dissected, we discovered two baby hammerhead pups in
late stages of decay, squid eye balls, and an empty caviar tin. The baby hammerhead
vertebrae are shown to the left and the small disk held by the gloved hand is the caviar
tin. |
