50 years of Jaws (1975): sharks attack

In 2025, it was 50 years since the film Jaws premiered in cinemas. The film had an unexpectedly major impact: the image of the shark as a man-killer. The film is held responsible worldwide for the many fearful stereotypes about sharks. In reality, sharks also attack humans. Very recently, there were four shark attacks in Australia at a popular swimming spot called 'Shark Beach'. What do you know about sharks, and are sharks dangerous to humans?

Jaws (1975)

Jaws is a 1975 American thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg. The film is based on the 1974 novel by Peter Benchley and stars Roy Scheider as Police Chief Martin Brody, who, with the help of a marine biologist (Richard Dreyfuss) and a professional shark hunter (Robert Shaw), hunts a man-eating creature. witte haai who attacks beachgoers in a seaside town in New England. Murray Hamilton plays the town's mayor and Lorraine Gary portrays Brody's wife. The screenplay was written by Benchley, who wrote the initial versions, and actor-writer Carl Gottlieb, who rewrote the script during filming. Jaws was largely filmed on location at Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts between May and October 1974. It was the first major feature film to be shot at sea, and consequently, production proceeded with difficulty, resulting in budget and schedule overruns. Because the art department's mechanical sharks often malfunctioned, Spielberg decided to primarily suggest the sharks' presence. He used an ominous and minimalist theme, composed by John Williams, to foreshadow the approaching appearances. Spielberg and others have compared this suggestive approach to that of director Alfred Hitchcock. Universal Pictures released the film in more than 450 theaters, an exceptionally wide release for a major studio film at the time, accompanied by an extensive marketing campaign with numerous television commercials and merchandise. Jaws is considered a turning point in film history, was the prototype of the summer blockbuster, and won various awards for the music and editing. It was the most successful film of all time until the release of Star Wars two years later; both films were crucial to the development of the modern Hollywood business model, which strives for high box office success with action and adventure films with simple, high-quality concepts, released in thousands of cinemas in the summer and heavily advertised. Jaws It was followed by three sequels, none of which starred Spielberg or Benchley, and many imitative thrillers. In 2001, the film was selected by the Library of Congress for inclusion in the United States National Film Registry.

 

sharks

Sharks (Selachimorpha, also known as Selachii) are a group of large, agile cartilaginous fish. The oldest known shark fossils date back more than 425 to 455 million years. There are more than 1000 described species of cartilaginous fish, including approximately 400 species of sharks and 600 species of rays and stingrays, and about 30 species of holocephali (dragonfish and chimeras, mostly deep-sea fish about which often little is still known). Most sharks are slender, muscular, and fast animals that reach a length of around 1 to 2 meters. The smallest shark species is Etmopterus perryi, measuring approximately 17 centimeters, and the largest living shark is the whale shark (Rhincodon typus), which averages twelve meters in length. Sharks are found in all seas. Most species do not occur below approximately 1500 meters, although exceptions exist up to 3000 meters. Sharks are primarily known to the general public for the species that are dangerous (to humans), but of the approximately 400 species, only four or five can be classified as dangerous. They are almost all predators (predatory fish) that feed on vertebrates (mostly fish, but also marine mammals and birds), large crustaceans, and mollusks.   Types of sharks It is difficult to give an exact number of shark species. Furthermore, new species are discovered annually. There are approximately 400 species of sharks, which are divided into 8 different orders. Sharks do not form a monophyletic group. Rays, together with the orders of the grey sharks, spiny dogfish, angel sharks, and saw sharks, form the clade Squalea, while the other orders (pig sharks, carpet sharks, mackerel sharks, and ground sharks) share a different common ancestry and belong to the clade Galeomorphii.

 

Sharks attack

On January 18, 2026, a boy was seriously injured by a shark attack in Sydney Harbour. Several boys had jumped from a 6-meter-high cliff at the popular 'Shark Beach'. He was pulled from the water by his friends, seriously injured. The attack was likely by a bull shark. Why do sharks come to that spot, which is not known as a shark beach? Due to heavy rainfall, the sewers overflowed, and wastewater containing feces ended up in the sea. This attracts fish, which in turn lured the bull sharks to the coast. A shark cannot distinguish between prey fish and a human. There is now a ban on swimming in the sea at various beaches.