Scalloped Hammerhead Shark

Photo: Susanne Spindler · CC BY-NC-ND

Scalloped hammerheads aggregate around the Banda Sea's seamounts and walls in schools, their distinctive cephalofoil head dramatically increasing their sensory field for detecting the electromagnetic signatures of buried rays and fish in open water. As apex predators, they regulate mid-water fish populations and their schooling behavior is thought to facilitate social interactions and possibly thermoregulation through depth cycling. Their critically endangered status globally makes Banda Sea sightings some of the most ecologically significant encounters available to divers.