How big are sharks off the California coast? And are the sharks maneaters?

The shark from "Jaws" is the stuff of legends.

Fifty years after the movie was filmed off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, beachgoers and those scared to dip a toe in the water still talk about the shark from the movie.

But how realistic was the shark from the movie, and are shark attacks a problem off the California coast? Not very, but when they happen, the killers are great whites.

How common are shark attacks off the California Coast?

Shark attacks off the California coast are rare, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Sharks have injured 14 people and killed three people off the California coast since 2020, the department reported.

Since 1950, there have been 215 shark incidents in California involving all species of sharks, at least 188 of which involved white sharks. Of those, 16 were fatal, and all of the fatalities likely involved white sharks.

Can great white sharks grow to 25 feet as big as the one in 'Jaws'?

The shark, which was known as set as Bruce and named after director Steven Spielberg's lawyer, in "Jaws" was 25 feet long.

And no, a white shark like the one in "Jaws," can't grow to 25 feet, according to Nick Whitney, PhD, the senior scientist and chair of the Fisheries Science and Emerging Technologies department at the New England Aquarium.

"With large sharks, we always have the 'it-was-as-big-as-the-boat!' stories, but the max size of white sharks has been the source of debate even among scientists," Whitney said. "Reports of two huge specimens from South Africa and Cuba from many decades ago appear to be based on errors and miscommunication and have not withstood further scientific investigation."

"The largest white sharks that have been reliably measured are right around 20 feet, and any larger than this is likely impossible. We know this because scientists have been able to calculate the size of white sharks at different ages and show that their growth levels off when they hit around 40. So you could roughly estimate a white shark’s age based on its length for its first few decades of life, but if you measured several white sharks between the ages of 40 and 70, their lengths would all be similar. They’re just not going to reach 25 feet. Anything between 16 and 20 feet is a real monster," he continued.

He added that the shark in the book of the same name that inspired the movie - written by the late Peter Benchley - "was 20 feet, but it was bumped up to 25 feet for the film."

Are there any sharks that are bigger than 'Jaws' off the coast of California?

Yes. One of the world's biggest sharks appeared off the Ventura coast earlier this year.

In February, an Island Packers boat headed to Santa Cruz Island from Ventura Harbor spotted two basking sharks feeding in the Santa Barbara Channel. Basking sharks can grow up to 30-plus feet, making them the world's second-largest fish, next to whale sharks.

The sharks known as the sea’s gentle giants, swim with wide-open mouths when they forage. Instead of big teeth, their mouths act as filters, sorting small crustaceans and other fish.

The whale shark, which can grow to as large as 60 feet long, is the sea's biggest shark, the Smithsonian Institute said. Whale sharks feed on planktonic organisms, including krill, jellyfish, and crab larvae.

Usually, whale sharks keep to more tropical waters, like the Gulf of California, than the California coast. But in 2023 one was reportedly seen off the Caltalina Coast.

The Smithsonian stated that the largest shark ever—the Megalodon—existed about 20 million years ago. It was the size of a "school bus" and weighed as much as a railroad car.

This article originally appeared on wickedlocal.com: How many fatal shark attacks off California coast have there been?