Revealing: When the shark bursts through the window of the cabin, in each of the shots facing Brody, including when he shoves the air tank into the shark's mouth, the glistening water is visible in the window's reflection behind Brody. The shark's reflection is never seen behind Brody, despite the shark's massive size in the small cabin. Bruce must have had the day off during Roy Scheider's takes.

Visible crew/equipment: When the fishermen start out on the hunt, Ben Gardner appears in a close-up leaning on the windshield at forward deck, while talking about how stupid some of the others are. In the next wide shot of the boats, Ben's green boat is towards the left of the screen, and the large reflector screen and camera, that are mounted to the bow of his boat, are visible in front of the forward window where Ben is seen in the previous shot.

Continuity: When Hooper gets his gear from below, after the explosion in the engine room, he runs to the deck passing Quint using the fire extinguisher. The camera pans from Brody, who stands on the bridge deck, to Hooper right below him. So where exactly is the tall iron ladder that leads up to the bridge deck in this shot? It should be behind Hooper, in front of the window, but it's gone! But don't fret, it's back in the following shots.

Continuity: At the scene just after the fake shark scare, the real shark shows up at the pond area of the beach. As the lifeguard in a small boat reacts to everyone's panic, the shark tips over the boat then appears underneath him to tear his leg off. We watch as it sinks slowly to the bottom. You can plainly see that the lifeguard is barefoot in the boat. The severed leg has a tennis shoe on.

Continuity: Orca's ID number normally reads MS 15 LF on both her port and starboard side at the bow. However, after Quint shouts, "Hooper, you idiot. Aint you watchin it?" Orca's ID number reads M 15 L at port side and 15 LF at starboard. Go figure.

Revealing: Just as Quint finishes scraping his nails on the chalkboard, the camera begins to move in closer when he takes the first bite of the cracker. On the right side of the screen under Harry's chin, Roy Scheider is seen ducking down while staring at the camera, as it pans toward Robert Shaw, and he then lifts his left hand up, cueing Robert's line.

Continuity: Quint embeds his machete into the wood at the side of the boat. In the following wideshot the machete is gone! Then as Orca starts to move, when Hooper says, "He's chasing us. I don't believe it," lo and behold, the machete is back! But wait, when the shark leaps onto the boat the machete is gone again, and then as the shark devours Quint the machete is back for him to grab, so he can valiantly stab the shark.

Continuity: When Chief Brody is standing on the boat, almost ankle deep in water, he throws down the pump and is about to climb up the ladder. In the next shot, while he is on the ladder, the shark (we presume) hits the boat making it list to the right and the deck is dry.

Visible crew/equipment: After the shark disappears, with Quint in its mouth, in the next shot facing Brody the door to the cabin closes. The wire attached to the door, leading offscreen to the right, is clearly visible.

Visible crew/equipment: While Quint is in the shark's mouth, the comfy white cushion is visible under his back, protruding from the shark's mouth.

Continuity: When the shark bursts into Orca's cabin and tries to attack Brody, in the shots facing the shark, at the right of the screen is the forward window. The previously shattered glass (from the yellow barrel) is now miraculously intact within the window frame, and the large wood cabinet below that window is gone. The glass is shattered once again, when Brody climbs out of the cabin, through the window beside it.

Continuity: On the death certificate for Chrissie, the shark's first victim, the date of death is July 1st. But later, on the reward paper posted by the boy's mother, it says that the date of Alex's death was June 29th. Alex died after Chrissie, not before.

Continuity: The number of barrels on the deck of the Orca changes from shot to shot during the final scene.

Continuity: Before Alex's attack, the guy who plays with his dog Pippet on the beach wears a bright yellow Izod polo shirt with straight hemmed sleeves, in his close-ups. However, in the wideshots the polo he wears is pale yellow, with shorter sleeves that have the classic rib-knit cuffs.

Factual error: When Quint is telling the story of the Indianapolis, he says the ship went down on June 29th. It actually went down on the night of July 29th.

Continuity: When Quint goes below deck to get the machete, with the intent to cut the barrel lines, the machete he takes is shiny and clean, with no rust or pit marks at all. Yet, when Quint holds it over his head and then embeds it into the side of the boat, the entire blade is rusty and full of pit marks.

Plot hole: When Hooper and Chief Brody are trying to get the Mayor to re-close the beach after finding Ben Gardner's boat, they fail to mention they also found Ben Gardner's severed head. The Mayor would be forced to re-close the beach if yet another confirmed shark fatality had been mentioned, but Hooper and Brody never bring that important detail up. [This is still a mistake, but the explanation for this is that the scene where they find Ben Gardner's head was not in the original script. Originally, they just found his boat. Spielberg felt the scene needed a little more shock value so they shot the part with the head in a swimming pool long after the main filming had been completed.]

Revealing: When Hooper encounters Ben, the shape and size of the hole in the hull of Ben Gardner's boat, as well as the paint stripes on the hull, all change in this shot. (The close-ups of Ben's appearance were shot later in pick-ups after principal photography wrapped.)

Visible crew/equipment: After losing Quint, Brody is in the flooded cabin as the ship tips. Just before the shark bursts in, there is an exterior shot looking into the cabin through the window with the shards of glass. A crew member wearing a jacket and hat is visible in the reflection of the triangular piece of glass, at the top right of the screen.

Continuity: When Hooper climbs into the cage he is not wearing fins, yet when he is lowered in the cage, in the very first shot underwater, he is wearing fins. In the following shots he is not wearing fins, but after the shark destroys the cage and he swims to the bottom of the ocean, he is wearing fins once again.