Trivia question for Jun-25-2011

Carter has always been fascinated by the odd look of these guys so today he decided to do his trivia on them.  The Great Hammerhead Shark is the largest species of Hammerhead.  An active predator with a varied diet, known prey of the great hammerhead include invertebrates such as crabs, lobsters, squid, and octopus, bony fishes such as tarpon, sardines, sea catfishes, toadfish, porgies, grunts, jacks, croakers, groupers, flatfishes, boxfishes, and porcupine fishes, and smaller sharks such as smooth-hounds.

The streamlined body of the great hammerhead with the expanded cephalofoil is typical of the hammerhead sharks. The teeth are triangular and strongly serrated, becoming more oblique towards the corners of the mouth. There are 17 tooth rows on either side of the upper jaw with 2–3 teeth at the symphysis (the midline of the jaw), and 16–17 teeth on either side of the lower jaw and 1–3 at the symphysis.

The average great hammerhead measures up to 11.5 ft long and weighs over 500 lb. A small percentage of the population, mostly or all females, are much larger. The longest great hammerhead on record was 20 ft. The heaviest known great hammerhead is a 14.4 ft long, 1,280 lb female caught off Boca Grande, Florida in 2006. The weight of the female was due to her being pregnant with 55 near-natal pups.

So here are Carter’s questions:  The electro-receptors that line the shark’s head wings detect electrical signals as low as one-millionth of a volt.  Tell us how many ‘million’ times weaker that signal is compared to the faintest signal a human can detect?  Also, although no one really knows how many of these sharks are swimming in our oceans, they are facing a severe threat which is causing these apex predators to be added to the Endangered list.  Tell us what that threat is.

Good Luck 😉

Answer:

Great job to Bob Irwin for getting part of the trivia answered correctly.  Shark Fining is indeed the main issue facing these sharks right now next to Ocean Pollution and Ocean Acidification.  As for the rest of the trivia, the sharks electro-receptors can pick up electrical signals that are 25-million times weaker than the faintest signal a human can detect.  Here is more on these fascinating sharks:  Great Hammerhead Shark

Thanks for playing along 😉