A hammerhead shark's wide head acts as a high-tech sensor to find hidden prey.

The hammerhead shark's unique head shape is known as a cephalofoil. This structure is packed with thousands of sensory organs called the Ampullae of Lorenzini. These organs are jelly-filled pores that can detect electrical fields as weak as five billionths of a volt. This sensitivity allows sharks to find the heartbeat or muscle movements of prey buried deep beneath the ocean floor.The wide surface area of the cephalofoil acts like a metal detector, covering a much larger path than other shark species. Research published in the journal 'Scientific Reports' suggests that this shape evolved to enhance the shark's electroreception capabilities. By spreading the sensors across a wider area, the shark gains a more precise stereo-like sense of its surroundings.Beyond hunting, the cephalofoil provides significant hydrodynamic advantages. It acts like an airplane wing, providing extra lift as the shark moves through the water. This allows hammerheads to make incredibly sharp turns and maneuver with high agility compared to sharks with traditional pointed snouts. This combination of sensory power and physical speed makes them one of the ocean's most successful predators.