The shark is characterized by a broad, smooth, spade-like head: it has the smallest cephalofoil (hammerhead) of all Sphyrna species.

Adult females have a broadly rounded head, whereas males possess a distinct bulge along the anterior margin of the cephalofoil.

The shark feeds primarily on crustaceans, consisting mostly of blue crabs, but also shrimp, mollusks, and small fish.

Its feeding behavior involves swimming across the seafloor, moving its head in arc patterns like a metal detector, looking for minute electromagnetic disturbances produced by crabs and other creatures hiding in the sediment.

Bonnetheads also ingest large amounts of seagrass, which has been found to make up around 62.1% of gut content mass.

[8] The shark may perform this activity to protect its stomach against the spiny carapaces of the blue crab which it feeds on.

The birth took place at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Nebraska; DNA analysis showed a perfect match between mother and pup.

It is heavily targeted by commercial and recreational fisheries and constitutes up to 50% of all small shark landings in the Eastern US, but is still reasonably abundant there as well as in the Atlantic Coasts of the Bahamas and Mexico.