Galeophobia

Galeophobia: fear of sharks. People with this phobia can experience intense anxiety if they are on a boat, visiting an aquarium, on a beach, or watching any of the "Jaws" movies. My guess is that the original 1975 movie "Jaws" created a lot of galeophobs and actually caused a decline in the SCUBA diving industry. More recently, the 2004 movie "Open Water" may have also contributed. "Galeophobia" is derived from the Greek words "galeos" meaning a "shark with markings that look like those found on a weasel." I could be mistaken (I'm not an expert on sharks or weasels) but I think I've seen more sharks with markings that do not resemble a weasel. If this wasn't actually in a medical dictionary, I would have thought it came from a Mony Python skit.