HOW TO SUBMIT A SIGHTING
Learn about the information needed from researchers when you spot a hammerhead out in the wild!
What is a sighting?
If you ever catch yourself lucky enough to see a hammerhead out in the wild, you can help researchers guide conservation efforts to protect them by submitting a report of what you saw!
What do I need to submit a sighting?
The Hammerhead Hub App provides a simple and easy way for you to upload your sighting reports so that researchers can immediately see what's going on and where. The middle "Submit" button in the navigation bar of this app will lead you to your first submission.
But wait! First let's get into what you'll need to prepare beforehand.
Location and time
Knowing where and when you saw the shark(s) can help us understand their movements and habits. Try to get the best estimation of the location, date and time of day that you saw the shark(s).
Your activity
Letting us know what you were doing when you saw the sharks helps give context around the shark's behaviours. Whether you were on a boat and pictured them on the surface of the water or diving and saw them deep under, can help us map out their habits.
Water visibility
How distinctly you can see and recognise that it was a hammerhead can help us verify your sightings.
Photos
Providing images of the hammerheads improves the reliability of your sighting, and can help researchers identify the particular species.
Species, Sex, Number and Condition
There are 10 species of hammerheads, 4 of which live in Australian waters! You can distinguish between the hammerheads by the features of their head shape. Although it’s not that simple sometimes. Have a look at our articles ‘Hammerheads of Australia’ and ‘Differentiating features of Aussie hammerheads’ to get you started!
You may be able to identify if the shark was male or female by the presence of claspers (have a read at our article ‘How to tell male and female hammerheads apart’).
Some hammerheads like the scalloped hammerheads form big groups or aggregations, so you might find more than one at a time. Please let us know an estimate of how many you saw.
We love seeing pictures of live hammerheads, but if you come across a dead one or you caught one, please record it too. All information helps us learn more about hammerheads and guide conservation efforts.
Notes
Should you have any additional insight that you'd like to let us know please leave them in the notes.
Review your submission
You can check your sighting info before confirming the submission. Edit any fields as necessary and click confirm when you are ready to submit your hammerhead sighting!
Conclusion
Great, now you know how to record a hammerhead sighting on Hammerhead Hub. We can't wait to see what you come across!
