ScienceDaily.com: Hammerhead Shark Study Shows Cascade of Evolution Affected Size, Head Shape


Hammerhead Shark
Photo Credit: Terry Goss, Marine Photobank

Hammerhead sharks are one of many shark species found off the coast of New Jersey. The ancestor of all hammerhead sharks probably appeared abruptly in Earth's oceans about 20 million years ago and was as big as some contemporary hammerheads, according to a new study led by the University of Colorado at Boulder. But once the hammerhead evolved, it underwent divergent evolution in different directions, with some species becoming larger, some smaller, and the distinctive hammer-like head of the fish changing in size and shape, said CU-Boulder Professor Andrew Martin of the ecology and evolutionary biology department.

Posted by WILDNEWJERSEY at 6/5/2010 6:00 AM
Categories: Sharks
Tags: shark DNA evolution hammerhead threatened species
 

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