There are plenty of famous shark films and stories and I'd love to write my own, however one thing that always bugged me is how the sharks are depicted as violent killing machines where as (from what I've heard) that's not really the case.

I want a core theme of the story to be the main human characters fearing the shark, but the shark not directly attacking anyone. The shark is an antagonist, but not a villain. I think it'd be nice to have the 'moral' be all about how people's fear of sharks causes them to fear something that is more in their head than actually in front of them.

I say all this to ask, what hated tropes about sharks should I not include? What facts are essential? How do I 'respectfully' write this story, without feeding into the same fearmongering most shark media feeds into?

Second time , she’s more cautious. Sometimes your presence and the fact that you are observing is enough to deter them.
(Applies for tiger sharks in this case )

i was drawing a mermaid and decided to add my favorite shark!!! frilled shark !!! :B