Third nursery used by scalloped hammerhead sharks to raise their pups has been found of the Galapagos Islands

On Friday, December 16, the Ecuadorian national park revealed the discovery of a third nursery in the Galapagos Islands that scalloped hammerhead sharks use to raise their young. It is advantageous for the critically endangered species.

According to Eduardo Espinoza, a ranger at the Galapagos National Park, ‘it is really crucial to identify these new breeding places, especially for the hammerhead shark, because it is an emblematic species for the Galapagos and one that is critically endangered.’

There are 13 significant islands in the Galapagos. Espinoza and other scientists found the nursery off Isabela, the largest of the islands, after months of scouring the archipelago.

The park said it hopes the research leads the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) ‘to include these nurseries in the listing of important areas for the conservation of sharks,’ which now is a special category of protection.

Scalloped hammerhead sharks (Sphyrna Lewini) prefer shallow nurseries to raise their pups in protected conditions. The shark is an open-water hunter but has been hard hit by commercial fishing to satisfy an appetite in East Asia for its fins.

The park has not revealed the specific locations for the three nurseries in order to protect the sharks.