(Filephoto) Hammerhead shark. The discovery that scalloped hammerheads are possibly two species is a result of genetic testing and counts of vertebrae.
(Filephoto) Hammerhead shark. The discovery that scalloped hammerheads are possibly two species is a result of genetic testing and counts of vertebrae.

New species of Hammerhead shark confirmed

Announcements in June, 2006 reported the discovery of a possible new species of hammerhead off the US eastern seaboard.

Nearly seven years ago, scientists from Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center sampling sharks caught on charter boats off Fort Lauderdale and South Carolina stumbled on a startling discovery: some of the sharks that looked like scalloped hammerheads were actually a different, unidentified species.

Adult female Bottlenose Dolphin with two young at side

Dolphins form open social networks

Richard Connor of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth tracked 120 males in the Shark Bay, Western Australia and found no evidence that dolphins form the groups to control either territory or sexual partners, suggesting their society is unusually open.

The researchers found no evidence that the large and complex social network in Shark Bay, comprising hundreds of bottlenose dolphins, is a closed group defended by males.

They also found no evidence that males defend smaller ranges or groups of females within this network.