Scalloped Hammerhead

Photo: Kris Mikael Krister · CC BY

Scalloped hammerheads visit João Valentin between December and March, circling the pinnacle at 20 to 35 m depth in groups of 3 to 12 individuals during the cool-water season when upwelling intensifies around Boa Vista's northern cape. They are on feeding excursions rather than resting aggregations and are more skittish than their counterparts at dedicated hammerhead aggregation sites, requiring divers to remain still on the pinnacle wall rather than ascending toward them. Their presence during these months makes João Valentin one of only a handful of hammerhead dive sites anywhere in the eastern Atlantic.