educational and funny! Thanks for the insight..
so I should not join the guys charters I take it? He did mention they target killer whales
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Originally Posted by Hammerhead_77
+1000 to the statement of utter, complete BS.
There are two major subspecies of hammerheads, scalloped HH and Great HH. The scalloped variety are primarily bottom feeders that use their head like a metal detector to find the electric signals of flouder, sole and similar bottom fish buried in the substrate. They congregate in huge schools in warm waters to breed...you can almost walk across Kaneohe Bay on the windy side of Oahu during breeding season.
Great (or Oceanic) Hammerheads are typically very shy apex predators. They grow to over 18 feet and up to 1800+ pounds. They primarily feed on rays in many warm water locations, but are know to take virtually any fish including other smaller sharks. I have spent many, many hours in the water searching for Great Hammerheads and have only ever seen one in shallow water.
While Oceanic Whitetips are known to be fascinated with floating objects and will bump or push them regularly, i would be very surprised to see that activity from a hammerhead. They WILL take a fish as you pull it in...but they are not interested in the kayak, just going after the fish.
To put all this in perspective, worldwide each year there are about 80 incidents of sharks biting people and 8 fatalities. In contrast, an average of 180 people are KILLED each year by falling coconuts! Conclusion - wear a helmet and flee to the shark infested water for safety!!!
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