Sharks are people-eating monsters … right? At first glance, they’re enormous predators that can devour anything, have no natural enemies, and can result in wildly lucrative feature film franchises as well as movies you might rent from a Redbox at 2 a.m.

But because of their fearsome reputation as nature’s schoolyard bully, sharks among our most mischaracterized animals. And no, it wasn’t Steven Spielberg who first sullied their reputation.

In this episode of Misconceptions, host Justin Dodd debunks some myths about these great beasts of the ocean, from whether punching them in the nose is a valid defense tactic, to the events that inspired Jaws and changed people's perception of these creatures. Dive on in; the water's fine.

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This article was originally published on www.mentalfloss.com as Wild Misconceptions About Sharks.