{"id":2190732,"date":"2026-04-19T06:00:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T04:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/?p=2190732"},"modified":"2026-04-10T15:12:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T13:12:20","slug":"researchers-tracked-9-great-hammerhead-sharks-off-florida-and-the-bahamas-heres-what-they-discovered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/researchers-tracked-9-great-hammerhead-sharks-off-florida-and-the-bahamas-heres-what-they-discovered\/","title":{"rendered":"Researchers tracked 9 great hammerhead sharks off Florida and the Bahamas. Here’s what they discovered"},"content":{"rendered":"

Giant hammerhead sharks are masters of the \u201cthermal hustle,\u201d maintaining peak hunting performance over a surprisingly wide range of ocean temperatures, a study in the\u00a0Journal of Experimental Biology<\/em>\u00a0reveals.<\/p>\n

As the climate crisis unfolds, the findings provide insight into the species\u2019 possible future movements and survival.<\/p>\n

All living things have an optimal range of temperatures they can live in. Some thrive when the mercury falls, whilst others embrace the scorching heat. When they are pushed outside their preferred range, many species experience a sharp decline in performance.<\/p>\n

Not so, the great hammerhead shark. Their performance drops a little, but not so much. \u201cThis tells us that great hammerheads might tolerate changing climates better than other species,\u201d says Yannis Papastamatiou from Florida International University.<\/p>\n

The great hammerhead shark is the largest species of hammerhead\u00a0shark<\/a>, growing up to 6m long or more. This critically endangered species is found in tropical and warm temperature waters worldwide, where it typically inhabits coastal areas.<\/p>\n

To study how well the great hammerheads perform, Papastamatiou and colleagues used advanced biologging technology to track the movement, acceleration, depth and water temperature of nine hammerheads in the waters off Florida and the Bahamas. Then they used this information to create a \u201cthermal performance curve\u201d, which shows how the sharks\u2019 performance changes across a range of temperatures.<\/p>\n

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\"Great
The great hammerhead shark is the largest hammerhead shark species in the world. Credit: Martin Voeller\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The sharks performed best at a sweet spot of 29.3\u00b0C, but either side of this their performance dropped less steeply than was expected. This means they can effectively hunt fast-moving prey like blacktip sharks in winter and fast-moving tarpon and\u00a0barracuda\u00a0in summer.<\/p>\n

The finding suggests that the sharks can perform well across a relatively broad range of temperatures, yet for the most part, they tended stay in their comfort zone. Reviewing historical shark catch data and satellite tag records, the team also found that great hammerheads were most often found in temperatures close to their preferred 29.3\u00b0C.<\/p>\n

Great hammerhead sharks have experienced drastic population declines in the past several decades. \u201cAs ocean temperatures change, hammerheads may shift their range to stay within the temperatures where they perform best,\u201d says Papastamatiou. \u201cThat could bring them into areas with heavier fishing pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thermal performance curves can be used to help predict the future movement of species, but other factors, such as the availability of food and presence of human activity, can also have an effect. The new research highlights the importance of these additional factors.<\/p>\n

This article<\/a> by Helen Pilcher was first published by Discover Wildlife on 2 April 2026.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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