Everyone knows that sandbar shark is #BestShark. But to help raise money for graduate student shark research, I asked professional wrestler Ryan “Hollywood Hunk” Nemeth to help me auction off the right for some other species to be guest #BestShark for a year– an honor that comes with a custom wrestling championship belt I commissioned that they can display in their office. The winner is responsible for returning the belt to the conference next year so we can do this again.
Wrestling belt features a sandbar shark, shark jaws, and the text “BEST SHARK FOR ONE YEAR”
The winner was Minorities in Shark Sciences CEO Jasmin Graham, who selected bonnethead sharks to be your guest #BestShark until July 2025! “I love bonnetheads because they are adorable (I mean, they look like they are wearing little hats, that’s darn cute,” she said. “And also they were the first shark species to be discovered to be omnivorous!”
Jasmin Graham drawing blood from a bonnethead shark on board the R/V Garvin
Here are some fun facts about bonnethead sharks!
They were one of the first shark species I ever worked with! I did my Masters research on sandbar sharks, but before that I worked at SeaCamp in the Florida Keys. There, I taught the shark biology class, which mostly focused on bonnethead and nurse sharks. Additionally, my sandbar shark samples gathered during my Masters research were not the target species of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources at the time… they were basically bycatch as chief scientist Bryan Frazier was trying to catch bonnetheads for his research.
22 year old me with a bonnethead shark in the Florida Keys
Bonnethead sharks are one of the smallest member of the hammerhead shark family (Sphyrnidae). They are found in warm coastal waters on the east and Gulf coast of the US, throughout the Caribbean, into Brazil, and from California to Ecuador on the Pacific side. The oldest one ever captured, which we wrote about on this blog, was part of Bryan’s study, and the record size is just under 5 feet and 32 pounds.
A sticker from Minorities in Shark Sciences’ “Shark Madness,” you can buy your own here.
They have some superlatives of their own. Sandbar sharks are #BestShark because they have so many things that they’re obviously better at than every other species, but bonnetheads also have some superlatives. They have the shortest gestation period of any known speices of sharks, and are pregnant for about 4-5 months before giving birth (live) to pups. They are the only known shark where you can tell a boy from a girl by looking at the shape of their head (female’s cephalofoils are more rounded).
And, as Jasmin mentioned, they are the only known omnivorous shark species! For years, scientists found Seagrass inside bonnethead shark stomachs, but assumed it was incidental consumption from eating crabs and shrimp hiding among Seagrass. (If I fail to pick all the lettuce off of my turkey sandwich, it doesn’t mean I’m suddenly a vegetarian). However, groundbreaking and mind blowing work showed that bonnetheads can actually digest plants, something which carnivores cannot do! (And yes, all other shark species are carnivores. Yes, even whale and basking sharks sharks, which eat plankton via filter feeding. Eating lots of very tiny animals is still eating animals).
Welcome to the top, bonnethead sharks!