Scalloped Hammerhead Shark

Photo: Kris Mikael Krister · CC BY

Scalloped hammerheads aggregate along the thermocline in the channel at depths of 25 to 40 metres, often in schools of 10 to 30 individuals that patrol in slow circles before dispersing at depth. The cephalofoil's electrosensory ampullae allow them to detect prey buried in sand and small schooling fish in the mid-water column, and their presence here is strongly tied to the productivity of the upwelling. Critically endangered globally, the Mirissa population represents one of the few remaining accessible schooling aggregations in the northern Indian Ocean.