Welcome to this week on the SHARK PAGEANT. Last week's contest, Zebra Shark, was stunning and may be hard to beat. Please welcome this week's contestant GREAT HAMMERHEAD SHARK. She has been widely requested for the Shark-tastic Pageant because of her individualistic body shape.
Appearance: Hammerhead is well known for her unique head shape. Her flat head allows for her eyes to be widespread, and while not the most attractive feature, this gives her a better field of vision than most sharks. She has creamy gray and olive skin that cascades down her body with a milky off-white underside. She also has heavily serrated, triangular teeth and would benefit from a trip to the orthodontist. Her extra-tall, pointed dorsal fin is easily identifiable and makes clothes shopping very difficult. The average size of an adult is 14 feet but some of her relatives are as long as 20 feet. Great Hammerhead is also the largest of the 9 Hammerhead Species. Her specialized head shape and gorgeous skin earn her a 9.3/10 in Appearance.
Social Skills: Great Hammerhead often hunts alone at night, keeping all of her prey for herself. However, in the summer months, there is a great migration of Hammerheads. She travels together with hundreds of her family in search of colder water. This provides protection and companionship for the long journey, she also gets to reunite with her extended family. Another important part of social skills is family relations. Hammerhead Shark is a better mother than most fish. Her eggs hatch inside of her body and they nurse the placenta for 11 months before being born. Her pups receive oxygen and nutrients through the placenta and in return, the babies’ waste gets transferred back through the placenta for mama Hammerhead to excrete. Hammerhead Shark, unlike most shark species, gives live birth. She can have anywhere from 13 to 56 pups! If she doesn’t win grand supreme and you can ignore the minor fault of cannibalism, she’ll definitely win Shark mom of the year! Her mothering powers and attendance to large family gatherings earn her an 8.8/10 in Social Skills.
Special Skills: Hammerhead’s stunning mallet shaped head isn’t the only flex she has over other sharks. Her Sensory organs are spread over their flat head which allows her to thoroughly scan for food like a metal detector. She has a very strong ampullae of Lorenzini which are sensory organs that detect electric fields. This allows Hammerhead to scan over the sand and discover stingrays who have buried themselves below. This is a talent Hammerhead uses to parade over some of the less fortunate shark species. All of her amazing features, like her, smashed pancake head and beauty is were her name Great Hammerhead stems from. Her electric special skills earn her a 9.7/10 in Special Skills.
Great Hammerhead was a joy to have competed this week! She wowed everyone with her mallet head and amazing mothering abilities. She flaunted her tremendous size and is a wondrous family member, all of these wonderful traits earn her a Total Score of 9.3/10!