Speaking of well-known sewer systems, there is an urban legend that alligators once inhabited the Manhattan sewer system. The story goes that short-sighted New Yorkers would vacation in Florida and bring back adorable baby alligators as pets. Unfortunately, when these pets grew beyond their owners' control, panicked parents would flush the alligators down the toilets, leading to colonies of subterranean alligators living in the sewer systems. These alligators somehow eventually lost their eyesight and became albino (or so did their progeny, in some feat of rapid and potentially Lamarckian evolution). They are also reputed to protect the stash of "New York white" albino marijuana, also rumored to grow in New York sewers. Thomas Pynchon gives credence to these rumors in V. by giving Benny Profane a job wrasslin' gators in the New York sewer system. None of these tall tales, however, are thought to be true.
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This is all cleared up somewhere in the second, I think, season of Futurmama when they first go down into the sewers of New New York to rescue Nibbler. The mutants living down there explain that this is, in fact, just an urban legend. They're crocodiles....
There's another episode we should watch for this class where Fry is taken over by worm parasites that totally change his behavior, making him fitter, smarter and more talented. It actually raises several interesting questions about the effect of parasites on host personality.
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