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Bonnethead Shark

Latin Name:Sphyrna tiburo
Category:Fish
Fun Facts:
  • The  bonnethead shark is also known as the shovelhead shark. 
  • The bonnethead shark is just one of about 370 species of sharks.
  • A bonnethead shark is about three to four feet long and weighs between 6 1/2 and nine pounds.
  • Bonnethead sharks must stay in motion at all times to survive.  This is because they must keep water moving through their gills in order to breathe.
  • A shark’s skeleton is made from cartilage rather than bone.  Since cartilage breaks down, the only fossils researchers have found from sharks are teeth and the spines from their fins.
  • Sharks continually grow new teeth to replace those that fall out.
  • Bonnethead sharks often swim in schools of five to 15 individuals.
  • The bonnethead shark is the smallest of the hammerhead species.
Information:
 
Reach up and touch your ear.  Notice how it feels sort of hard, but you can still bend it.  That hard but flexible stuff in your ears and at the tip of your nose is called cartilage.  Instead of a bony skeleton, a shark has a cartilage skeleton that helps its body bend easily as it swims.  That’s not the only awesome thing about a bonnethead shark’s body-since it likes to eat crustaceans like crabs, shrimp and mollusks, it has sharp pointed teeth in the front for grasping things and flatter, rounder teeth in back that are able to crack open hard shells.

Speaking of teeth, the bonnethead shark’s skin is made of something called dermal denticles, which are scales that are structured just like its teeth, with hard enamel on the outside and a pulp cavity on the inside.  These dermal denticles are just like a coat of armor to protect the shark.  A shark’s skin is so rough, it has been used as sandpaper.  Many fish have scales that grow bigger as they grow.  A shark’s scales stay the same size as it grows, it just grows more of them.

A shark also has strong senses of hearing, sight and smell.  Though a shark has only an inner ear, sound is often the first thing it uses to detect possible prey.  A shark can also see up to 50 feet away in clear water and can smell up to several hundred yards away.
 
Like most sharks, the bonnethead is not dangerous to people.  Out of the 370 different types of sharks, there are only a few that might attack a human.  The species most likely to be involved in a human attack are the great white shark, the tiger shark and the bull shark.
 
Habitat:
Located in the Shores Region, in Discovery Reef.  Discovery Reef is a 110,000 gallon salt water tank depicting a coral atoll.  1,200 pieces of man-made coral and special wave-producing equipment combine for a beautiful and always captivating experience!   The clownfish is located in a tank in the Battelle Sea Lab area inside Discovery Reef.   The Tidepool Touch Tank allows visitors to touch coastal animals such as horseshoe crabs and sea stars. Check for scheduled times on the zoo map when you arrive.