It made its appearance some 450 million years ago and, despite its impressive length (four meters) and weight (152 kilograms), what most captures our attention is its peculiarly shaped head. The hammerhead shark, just as its name implies, has its nasal orifices and its eyes located at each extreme of its head, thus giving it the odd appearance the carpentry tool.
Perhaps, you may ask yourself, how does this shape aid the shark?
Hammerhead Shark in Coco Island
Actually, this shark is one of the most fortunate of its species because its strange head (and eye location) gives it unsurpassed vision.
Furthermore, despite its size, the dark coloring of its torso and contrasting lighter shade of its belly make it blend in with its watery surroundings.
If viewed from below, it resembles the shimmer of the water; if viewed form above, it blends in as part of the darkness of the deep.
No doubt, these sharks possess the weapon of camouflage, and they know how to use it. Hammerheads are also great swimmers and can travel distances of up to 600 kilometers in two months. They customarily travel along the East Pacific Tropical Marine Corridor, which encompasses the islands of El Coco in Costa Rica, Malpelo and Gorgona in Colombia, Galapagos in Ecuador and Coiba in Panama.
There is a theory which states that volcanic islands such as these have magnetic fields that the sharks use to make their way around the areas where they feed. And the truth is that when they travel in packs of between 30 and 200, they are a sight to be seen and put on a show not to be missed by avid divers. Still, despite its prowess, this great marine predator remains one of the most endangered species in the tropical Pacific.
Ecotourism and Nature 
