Every year, dozens of female hammerhead sharks mysteriously convene in French Polynesia under the full moon

An uncommon, all-female meeting of nice hammerhead sharks has been gathering within the tropical waters of French Polynesia each summer season for over a decade, with numbers peaking across the full moon, scientists have found.

These critically endangered sharks convene throughout the austral summer season, between December and March, round openings in two neighboring atolls — Rangiroa and Tikehau — within the Tuamotu archipelago. An atoll is a ring-shaped island or coral reef enclosing a lagoon that kinds when land erodes and sinks under the ocean floor.