A monster 1,300-pound hammerhead shark has been filmed feasting on a 6-foot shark in Florida.
The TikTok video, posted to fishing account blacktiph, films the gigantic hammerhead from above as it approaches the smaller shark.
“Look at the size of that,” a man in the video can be heard saying.
The hammerhead catches up with the smaller shark and then appears to sink its jaw into it. It beings feasting on the shark, its gigantic body engulfing the smaller shark. A man behind the camera can be heard laughing in surprise.
“Oh my god, look how big he is!” the man can be heard saying.
The hammerhead then begins to swim away, the smaller shark’s body hanging out of its jaws.
@blacktiph When a 1300lb hammerhead shark eats a 6ft shark! #nature #sharks #drone #wildlife #hammerhead ♬ original sound – Blacktiph
Hammerhead sharks live in tropical and temperate waters worldwide. The great hammerhead shark is the largest species, and it is believed they can grow up to 20 feet long, though this is rare. The elusive species are endangered and are at particular risk from getting caught as bycatch by commercial fisheries.
Dr. Lauren de Vos from ocean conservation organization Save Our Seas Foundation told Newsweek that it is quite normal for sharks to prey on other sharks.
“With over 500 different species of sharks in our oceans, there are many species of sharks that prey on other, often smaller, sharks and it is normal behavior for those species. Hammerhead sharks, like the one in the video, are a family of predatory sharks that eat fishes, cephalopods (that’s animals like squids and octopuses) and smaller sharks and rays,” de Vos said.
“Because there are so many different species of sharks, a wide variety of different foods is on the shark ‘menu’ generally. However, there are certain, generally larger, species that include other sharks in their diet (like the hammerhead sharks, bull sharks, tiger sharks and white sharks), while the majority of other species don’t at all,” de Vos said.
“These large, predatory sharks don’t only eat other sharks—they’ll often also hunt fish, marine mammals and other animals. So, rather than it being about how often sharks eat other sharks, it’s more a question of whether a particular species would hunt other sharks if given the opportunity, or not.”
TikTok users were surprised that the smaller shark was as big as 6 feet.
“That would make the hammer shark a 18′ long shark? Nah no way, it ate a baby shark,” one user commented.
Another said: “No way that shark is 6 ft.”
“The hammerhead is the new jaws if the other shark is 6ft,” another user said.