 As in all hammerheads, its head is flattened and laterally expanded into a hammer-shaped structure called the cephalofoil, which in this species is wide and long with an arched front margin bearing central and lateral indentations.The yellow-orange pigments of the smalleye hammerhead seem to have been acquired from the penaeid shrimp "Xiphopenaeus kroyeri", the main food of juvenile sharks, and from sea catfish and their eggs, the main food of adults.The golden color may serve to conceal it from predators such as larger sharks.