August 7, 2013 — The Mustelus canis shark, often referred to as the smooth dogfish, is known to skulk from the edge of New England to the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Brazil and along the shores of northern Argentina.
It is not native to the ocean-blue seats of a Queens-bound N train.
But there it was found on Wednesday morning, just after midnight, deceased beneath a subway bench, as passengers braved a stench that, even by transit standards, might have driven them away under ordinary circumstances.
Brandon Sanchez, 20, noticed the shark, about three feet long and on its side, through a train window as the subway arrived at Canal Street. He stepped in with a friend, snapped a picture, and left to board a neighboring car. He did not say a word to train personnel.
“I thought eventually they would find out there was a shark on the train,” he said.
And they did, a dozen stations later, at Queensboro Plaza, when a conductor called in a report for which there is no transit code: There was a shark in Car 8994.
Read the full story at the New York Times