Sphyrna

Sphyrna
Great hammerhead (S. mokarran)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Subclass: Elasmobranchii
Order: Carcharhiniformes
Family: Sphyrnidae
Genus: Sphyrna
Rafinesque, 1810
Type species
Squalus zygaena
Synonyms
  • Cestraciom Walbaum, 1792
  • Cestracion Klein, 1776
  • Cestracion T. N. Gill, 1862
  • Cestracion J. D. Ogilby, 1916
  • Cestrorhinus Blainville, 1816
  • Mesozygaena Compagno, 1988
  • Platysqualus Swainson, 1839
  • Reniceps T. N. Gill, 1862
  • Sphyra Van der Hoeven, 1855
  • Sphyrichthys Thienemann, 1828
  • Sphyrnias Rafinesque, 1815
  • Zygaena G. Cuvier, 1816
  • Zygana Swainson, 1838
  • Zygoena A. Risso, 1827

Sphyrna is a genus of hammerhead sharks with a cosmopolitan distribution in the world's oceans. Members of Sphyrna have a tendency to inhabit coastal waters along the intertidal zone rather than the open ocean, as their prey such as invertebrates, fish, rays, small crustaceans, and other benthic organisms hide in the sands and sediment along these zones. Members of Sphyrna are also known by synonyms such as Zygaena, Cestracion, and Sphyrichthys. The earliest species described of this genus was Sphyrna zygaena by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, while the latest described member, Sphyrna alleni, was described in 2024.

The genus name comes from the Greek word σφῦρα sphyra "hammer", it is also where the family name Sphyrnidae comes from.[1]

  1. ^ Scharpf, Christopher (12 December 2022). "Family SPHYRNIDAE" (PDF). The ETYFish Project. Retrieved 20 September 2023.