A Fourth of July Shark Warning Courtesy of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spicoli?

It will be interesting to see if surfers (presumably) accomplished something Sheriff Martin Brody in Jaws did not: keep swimmers out of the water on a busy holiday weekend. That was apparently the goal of what San Clemente State Beach officials characterize as a phony shark warning sign.

The sign above circulated on the Interwebs Monday.

Lifeguards out at San Clemente have confirmed the state did not post such a sign, which it must be pointed out misspells “Calafia” and was posted on a city, not state, beach.

Which is why a Spicoli is the main suspect behind the hoax. (Yes we've jumped movie references seven years from Jaws to Fast Times …)

Because similar signs have popped up at San Onofre, state parks officials believe local surfers may be trying to drive away competition for the same waves.

The ploy did not amuse a certain Mayor Vaughn, who remarked, “It's all psychological. You yell barracuda, everybody says, 'Huh? What?' You yell shark, we've got a panic on our hands on the Fourth of July.”

Email: mc****@oc******.com. Twitter: @MatthewTCoker. Follow OC Weekly on Twitter @ocweekly or on Facebook!

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