Some of you would be sad, others of you would celebrate. And others still would think "hey! what a great idea for a movie!".
At least this is what Steven Spielberg thought when adapting the film Jaws from Peter Benchley's novel inspired by the 1916 Jersey Shore shark attacks. Well, aside from the guidos and guidettes that is- I think those are a modern addition to soceity. Instead the victims were Charles Vansant (25), Charles Bruder (27), Lester Stillwell (12), Watson Fisher (24), and Joseph Dunn (14). Only Joseph survived. The attacks occurred during a 12 day period in July and the last three victims were attacked within the same hour in Matawan Creek.
For a while, scientists and the general population blamed the great white shark, which is an extremely aggressive shark that can sometimes weigh over two tons and be more than 20 feet long. And the man-eater in Spielberg's film is represented as one of these enormous beasts.
But another theory exists: that the attacks were the responsibility of a Zambezi River shark, or "Bull shark" since three of the attacks occurred in a creek where great whites are not found. Also, Great Whites are pickier eaters than bull sharks and prefer not to eat humans. Most great white attacks are due to "mistaken identity" as one of their preferred prey, marine mammals, or territory defense. Bull sharks, however, eat almost any animal they can.
This guy may look a little less scary, but is still one of the three most aggressive sharks in the world, alongside the great whites and tiger sharks. Bull sharks live all over the world in oceans, rivers, lakes, and salt as well as freshwater streams. They are known for a "bump and bite" approach and will often unpredictably accelerate to attack an animal.
Check out this video to see some people with sweet jobs working with this badass cartilagenous fish.
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