A Shark Was Spotted Swimming Through the Flooded Streets of New Jersey During the Nor'easter

When floodwaters filled the streets of a coastal New Jersey community during the recent nor’easter, they brought with them an unexpected visitor: a shark. The creature was spotted in Surf City, a borough located on Long Beach Island, an 18-mile-long barrier island on New Jersey’s coast. Resident Drew Procaccino caught the animal on video as it swam past his home around noon on September 26, heading up the driveway before making its way west toward Barnegat Bay.

The smooth dogfish, also known as the dusky smoothhound, lives throughout the western Atlantic Ocean, swimming as far north as eastern Canada and as far south as Argentina. They’re typically about three feet long but can grow as large as five feet. Smooth dogfish aren’t picky eaters, scavenging whatever food they can find, including crustaceans, squid and bony fish.

Unlike many sharks, which have sharp, pointed teeth, smooth dogfish have flat, blunt teeth designed for crushing and grinding their prey, rather than tearing it. Females give birth to live young, usually bearing four to 20 pups after ten months of pregnancy. Females have life spans of up to 16 years, while males live up to around ten years.

The shark made its surprise appearance during the powerful nor’easter that battered part of the East Coast over the weekend. The slow-moving system brought heavy rain, high winds and coastal flooding to the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, causing major travel disruptions and power outages. At least one person died during the storm, 56-year-old Leighton Brown, who was walking in Brooklyn when part of a tree fell and struck him.

The storm toppled nearly 1,000 trees across New York City’s five boroughs. Nor’easters—which get their name from the northeasterly coastal winds that accompany them—can occur at any time of year, but they’re most common between September and April. These low-pressure systems typically occur between Georgia and New Jersey, often forming within 100 miles east or west of the East Coast.

The shark wasn’t the only creature caught in the nor’easter’s chaos. In Middletown Township, New Jersey, firefighters rescued a doe that had tried to run through a metal fence and gotten stuck. A crew covered her head with a blanket, then used an electric saw to cut through the fence.