Hammerhead Shark School — Cocos Island Deep Aggregation
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A scalloped hammerhead shark aggregation at Cocos Island — the distinctive cephalofoil-headed silhouettes visible in a school of 200 sharks against the open water background, the school extending beyond the visibility range in all directions.
Description
Cocos Island National Park in Costa Rica is one of the few reliable locations for large scalloped hammerhead aggregations — schools of 100 to 500 sharks that assemble at specific seamount cleaning stations where parasites are removed by cleaner fish. This image was made by a diver descending to the 25-metre aggregation depth and hovering in the school — surrounded by hammerheads in all directions, the school’s extent exceeding the 15-metre visibility limit. The characteristic cephalofoil — the laterally extended head that houses the amplullae of Lorenzini electrosense organs and appears to improve hydrodynamic performance — is the species’ most immediately identifiable feature, clearly visible in the silhouetted profile of each shark against the filtered blue light from above. Shot at 1/500 second at ISO 1600 in the deep ocean light, the image resolves the school’s closest members in detail while the more distant sharks blur into a sense of indefinite extension.
