BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Megafauna
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2025.1688202
First insights into the fine-scale vertical movements of a Carolina hammerhead, Sphyrna gilberti, and a hybrid between Carolina and scalloped hammerhead
Provisionally accepted
Lauren Horstmyer1*
Kirsty Ballard1Toby Daly-Engel2Keiran Stein2
Eric Hoffmayer3
Neil Hammerschlag4
BRYAN S FRAZIER5
Brooke Anderson6
Beckah Campbell1
James Sulikowski1,7- 1Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University, Corvallis, United States
- 2Ocean Engineering and Marine Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, United States
- 3Southeast Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, Pascagoula, United States
- 4Shark Research Foundation Inc, Boutiliers Point, Canada
- 5South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, Charleston, United States
- 6Saltwater Inc., Oregon and Washington Coastal Office, West Coast Region, National Marine Fisheries Service, Roseburg, United States
- 7Oregon State University Coastal Oregon Marine Experiment Station, Newport, United States
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Satellite telemetry has enabled the tracking of marine predators' vertical and horizontal habitat use and migration patterns. These insights provide valuable information that inform management and conservation of threatened species. In this study, a scalloped hammerhead, Sphyrna lewini, (125 cm FL; immature female) a Carolina hammerhead, Sphyrna gilberti, (138 cm FL; immature female) and a scalloped/Carolina hammerhead hybrid (160 cm FL; immature male) were tagged with PSATLIFE's off the coast of North Carolina. Tag data revealed that the Carolina hammerhead exploited a wide depth range, with a maximum depth of 846 m. Dive patterns of the scalloped hammerhead revealed differences in vertical space use, with the scalloped hammerhead primarily remaining within the top 200 m of the water column, and with a maximum depth of 380 m. The hybrid individual demonstrated similar dive patterns to those of the scalloped hammerhead, with a maximum depth of 203 m. This study presents the first vertical movement data for Carolina and hybrid scalloped/Carolina hammerheads, offering new insights into interspecific variation in depth use. Future research should explore if there are differences in habitat use and foraging strategies, as they may serve as distinguishing characteristics and support the development of effective management measures.
Keywords: Fisheries Management, Vertical movement, cryptic species, hammerhead, Dive patterns
Received: 18 Aug 2025; Accepted: 10 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Horstmyer, Ballard, Daly-Engel, Stein, Hoffmayer, Hammerschlag, FRAZIER, Anderson, Campbell and Sulikowski. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Lauren Horstmyer, lhorstmyer23@gmail.com
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