MEDICAL DICTIONARY
Fear of sharks: Excessive and persistent fear of sharks is termed galeophobia. Sufferers from this phobia experience anxiety even though they may be safe on a boat or in an aquarium or on a beach. Hollywood films depicting sharks as calculating, vengeful diabolical monsters have no doubt enkindled the fear of sharks in many persons. So have validated reports of sharks venturing into rivers and lakes.
Most of the more than 300 species of sharks rarely attack swimmers and scuba divers. However, great white sharks, hammerhead sharks and tiger sharks will attack on occasion, especially if they detect blood in the water. More than 60 percent of the victims of shark attacks survive. Oddly, the largest of all sharks, the whale shark, feeds on plankton and has no appetite for human flesh.
The term "galeophobia" is derived from the Greek words "galeos" (shark with markings resembling those on a weasel) and "phobos" (fear). "Galeophobia" is also sometimes used as alternate term for ailurophobia, fear of cats, because the Greek word "galeos" is derived from "galee," a Greek meaning "polecat" and "weasel."
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