Powerful Hammerhead Knocks Over Film Crew Underwater

Written by Sarah Psaradelis
Updated: October 19, 2023
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Hammerhead sharks are impressively large and majestic creatures and this hammerhead shark filmed in an episode of Blue Wilderness shows just how big these sharks can get. Tiger Beach, located off the coast of West End Grand Bahama, is a world-famous destination for shark diving, especially tiger shark diving.

The video shows Mark Vins and his crew shark diving for the first time hoping to come across a very large shark, which coincidentally happened right before they thought their adventure ended. In the video, you can see the clear blue tropical waters with a white sandy basin, and four different species of large sharks, such as the nurse shark, snaggle tooth lemon shark, reef shark, and the magnificent tiger sharks that swim peacefully amongst the brave divers.

Check out This Giant Hammerhead in the Video Below!

In the video, Mark Vins says, “It was a truly life-changing experience and that everyone on the team went into the dive with a high level of uncertainty and a healthy dose of fear.” The only shark species missing from their dive is the incredible hammerhead shark, but the hopes of seeing the shark were believed to be hopeless as they came back up to the boat, or so they thought.

Drone footage of the boat shows a large hammerhead shark nicknamed “hammerhead” by the crew steadily approaching, and the crew geared up once again to complete the dive as hordes of sharks swarm around the boat. In the water, a dark shadow covers the white sand and surprises the divers – it was the hammerhead.

The hammerhead shark plummeted right towards Mark, who froze – that was a close one! The 15-foot great hammerhead shark is by far the largest of the 9 species and can exceed 20 feet in length and weigh well over 1,000 pounds.

After the hammerhead shark put on a show for the camera, it knocked one of the film crew members flat on his butt! This seemed to be the shark’s dramatic exit, as it swam off into the unknown regions of the reef shortly after.

Why The Long Face?

What was most impressive was the size of this shark’s face, which is elongated to help them detect their prey by allowing more space for electro-sensing ampullae of Lorenzini which are special sensing organs called electroreceptors that form a network of mucus pores and are the reason for the hammerhead sharks elongated head.

The photo featured at the top of this post is © HakBak/Shutterstock.com


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About the Author

Sarah is a writer at A-Z Animals primarily covering aquatic pets, rodents, arachnids, and reptiles. Sarah has over 3 years of experience in writing and researching various animal topics. She is currently working towards furthering her studies in the animal field. A resident of South Africa, Sarah enjoys writing alongside her pets and almost always has her rats perched on her shoulders.

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