Scalloped Hammerhead Shark

Photo: Kris Mikael Krister · CC BY

Scalloped hammerhead sharks appear at the deeper sections of the Speery pinnacles during the December to April peak season, schooling in loose aggregations of 5 to 20 individuals that use the current-exposed faces of the pinnacles as gathering points. They are critically endangered globally and Saint Helena's isolation has protected this population from the targeted shark fishing that has devastated hammerhead aggregations across the tropical Atlantic. Their appearance here is a powerful indicator that the island's surrounding waters retain a functional large-shark community that has been lost from virtually all comparable island systems.