In it, as quoted by the New York Times, Benchley said flatly that, “'Jaws' was entirely a fiction.” That doesn't mean shark attacks are fiction, though!
Outside of the movies, male great whites average about 12 feet, while female white sharks average 16 feet. Of course, those are averages and there are outliers on any bell curve. Individual sharks have been observed with estimated lengths approaching or exceeding 20 feet.
It's simple. Peter Benchley, who penned the novel on which Jaws is based and co-wrote the screen treatment, says the book and film are works of fiction. Although Benchley was a resident of New Jersey, he has said he didn't take any inspiration from the New Jersey shark attacks of 1916.
"This is called the 'The Jaws Effect' -- a known phenomenon where people are excessively and irrationally scared of sharks -- today, nearly 50 years after the first Jaws movie, it still influences people's perceptions of sharks, impacts conservation efforts, and affects policy decisions.
Could a Great White shark the size of 'Jaws' really exist?
How many sharks were killed after Jaws came out?
Since the release of Jaws in 1975, the world has witnessed a staggering decline of 71% in shark and ray populations, and around 100 million sharks are killed each year. This depletion puts a whopping 75% of shark species at risk of extinction.
They believe the 1975 movie "Jaws" caused a generation of people to develop galeophobia — an irrational fear of sharks. Psychologist Gabriella Hancock, who is working with the Shark Lab at Cal State Long Beach, said people aren't born being afraid of sharks. "We're not innately afraid of sharks," Hancock said.
In California, the film led to vendetta killings, great white shark tournaments, a commercial fishery that along with bycatch in a gillnet fishery, almost completely wiped out the population of white sharks along the west coast of North America.
Fun fact: People didn't really fear sharks before the 1960's. What happened? In the beginning of the 20th century swimming for fun became acceptable. Interestingly enough, those early swimmers didn't care or think much about sharks.
(And while you're reading, yes, sharks are fish, and yes, whale sharks are sharks and not whales.) Though there are some reports of larger individuals, the biggest specimen ever reliably measured was 18.8 metres or nearly 62 feet long! That's bigger than a school bus!
They scaled up a real Great White and made sure his features weren't exaggerate - everything had to be to scale. So you didn't have great big elongated teeth or a dorsal fin that was ten feet high, Bruce was anatomically correct - except for his famous jowls, that is.
Homage to Spielberg's Lawyer: The decision to name the shark "Bruce" was a tongue-in-cheek homage to Steven Spielberg's lawyer, Bruce Ramer. Spielberg, known for injecting humor and personal touches into his work, playfully named the menacing antagonist after his legal counsel.
Is the megalodon still alive? 'No. It's definitely not alive in the deep oceans, despite what the Discovery Channel has said in the past,' notes Emma. 'If an animal as big as megalodon still lived in the oceans we would know about it.
In some exceptional cases, fossil marine mammal bones have been found with the bite marks of a megalodon. Some sperm whale bones have evidence of megalodon attacks on their foreheads, a part of the whale that would have been rich in fats. Dolphin tailbones have also been found with deep megalodon tooth marks.
Jaws has received attention from academic critics. Stephen Heath relates the film's ideological meanings to the then-recent Watergate scandal. He argues that Brody represents the "white male middle class—[there is] not a single black and, very quickly, not a single woman in the film", who restores public order.
Three mechanical sharks were made for it, but they were unreliable and the foam they were made of soaked up water and made them bloat. For that reason, the director chose not to show the shark much, which built suspense and improved the film, he says.
Part of the reason why Bruce kept breaking down was because he had initially been tested in fresh water. But the ocean around Martha's Vineyard, where the movie was filmed, was salt water. That saltwater kept corroding both the inside and outside of the mechanism, causing the shark to sink.
While Deep Blue may be one of the largest fish in the ocean, these creatures can still be elusive and NOAA estimates a great white shark lifespan to be around 30-70 years so there's every chance Deep Blue is still alive and well in the ocean to this day.
Global water temperature dropped; that reduced the area where megalodon, a warm-water shark, could thrive. Second, because of the changing climate, entire species that megalodon preyed upon vanished forever. At the same time, competitors helped push megalodon to extinction – that includes the great white shark.
The megalodon turns its body to place the mosasaur squarely in front of its jaws and chops down on the quivering flesh of the mosasaur's tail as it tries to slither away. As the megalodon bites down again and again the flailing mosasaur's muscles seize and then go limp as blood spills out into the water.
It's true, there are sharks out there that are cute and friendly! Of the over 500 species of sharks, only a handful of them have been known to attack humans and even these attacks are mostly a case of mistaken identity.
There is no scientific evidence that sharks can smell fear in humans or any other animal. However, when near sharks in the water, it is wise that you do not panic as sharks can detect the heartbeat of their prey.
Because of these characteristics, many experts consider bull sharks to be the most dangerous sharks in the world. Historically, they are joined by their more famous cousins, great whites and tiger sharks, as the three species most likely to attack humans.
