The Hammerjaw has an iridescent silvery-bronze colour. It is a predator of fishes and squid.
The Hammerjaw has a strongly compressed body that lacks scales. It has a very large mouth with a truncate lower jaw. There is at least one huge fang on the lower jaw and one to four fangs on the palatines. A short based dorsal fin is positioned behind the middle of the body. A dorsal adipose fin is positioned above the posterior anal fin rays. There is a dermal keel present on the caudal peduncle. The species has an iridescent silvery-bronze colour.
It occurs in mesopelagic and bathypelagic depths in temperate and tropical marine waters worldwide.
In Australia it is known from scattered localities off New South Wales, and off south-eastern and north-western Western Australia.
The map below shows the Australian distribution of the species based on public sightings and specimens in Australian Museums. Source: Atlas of Living Australia.
Feeding and diet
The Hammerjaw is a predator of fishes and squid.
- Gomon, M.F. in Gomon, M.F., Glover, C.J.M. & R.H. Kuiter (Eds). 1994. The Fishes of Australia's South Coast. State Print, Adelaide. Pp. 992.
- Hoese, D.F., Bray, D.J., Paxton, J.R. & G.R. Allen. 2006. Fishes. In Beesley, P.L. & A. Wells. (eds) Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Volume 35. ABRS & CSIRO Publishing: Australia. parts 1-3, pages 1-2178.
- Paxton, J.R. & V.H. Niem 1999. Omosudidae. In Carpenter, K.E. & V.H. Niem (Eds). FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes. The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. Volume 3. Batoid fishes, chimaeras and bony fishes part 1 (Elopidae to Linophrynidae). FAO, Rome. Pp. iii-vi, 1398-2068.