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Enchanted Learning All About Sharks!

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ALL ABOUT SHARKS!

BONNETHEAD SHARK Sphyrna tiburo

GENERAL DESCRIPTION
The average Bonnethead shark (also known as the Shovelhead shark) is a small, common hammerhead shark with a smooth, rounded head. It is a harmless, timid shark that is gray-brown above and lighter on the underside with short pectoral fins

SIZE
The average Bonnethead shark averages about 3.3 feet (1 m) long.

TEETH
The average Bonnethead shark has small, sharp teeth in the front of the mouth (for grabbing soft prey) and flat, broad molars in the back (for crushing hard-shelled prey).

DIET AND FEEDING HABITS
The Bonnethead shark has a varied diet. It eats both hard-shelled prey (like crustaceans and mollusks) and soft prey (like small fish), and has a variety of teeth to eat all these animals.

BONNETHEAD SHARK ATTACKS
The Bonnethead shark is harmless to people; it is a timid shark.

HABITAT AND DISTRIBUTION
Bonnetheads are found in the western Atlantic and eastern Pacific Oceans, in the surf zone, reefs, on sandy bottoms and in estuaries.

SCHOOLS AND MIGRATION
Large schools of Bonnethead sharks migrate to warm water in the winter and cooler water in the summer.

REPRODUCTION
Females are mature at 2.5 feet (75 cm) long and give birth in shallow bays to 8 to 16 pups about 14 inches (35 cm) long.

BONNETHEAD SHARK CLASSIFICATION

Kingdom Animalia (animals) Phylum Chordata SubPhylum Vertebrata (vertebrates) Class Chondrichthyes (cartilaginous fish) Subclass Elasmobranchii (sharks and rays) Order Carcharhiniformes Family Sphyrnidae Genus Sphyrna Species

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