Researchers from the University of South Carolina have found a new cryptic species of hammerhead shark off South Carolina. Researcher Joe Quattro and his team took a look at a rare shark, the Carolina hammerhead, that had long avoided discovery because of its uncanny likeness to the common scalloped hammerhead. The new species, designated Sphyrna gilberti, calls attention to the impact of human predation on shark diversity.

 

Quattro and his team examined the freshwater rivers that journey through South Carolina before flowing out into the western Atlantic Ocean, but their primary focus was on fish species.