 The relevant petition to the ICZN has not yet been put forth.Until the first detailed study of the smalleye hammerhead was carried out in 1985–86 by José Castro of Clemson University for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, its distinctive golden coloration was unknown to science.The color fades after death and the pigments leech into the preservative, resulting in the "yellowish cast" of museum specimens being regarded as an artifact of preservation.