"Millibrachiate Tentacular Coelenterates" is a designation coined by Dr. Alastair Bocker to refer to a type of alien creatures which emerged from metallic tanks out of the ocean and started to attack Humans in coastal areas all over the globe.
The extraterrestrial origins of these creatures is evident in that they only appeared after several UFOs arrived on Earth and submerged into the deepest parts of the ocean. Dr. Bocker offers that the aliens might have originated on Jupiter or some other gas giant, and thus can only survive in the pressure of the abyssal trenches. While Bocker is convinced that the Coelenterates are not the invaders, but an artificial life form created specifically to wage war on Humans, Phyllis Watson thinks otherwise, believing that the Coelenterates themselves are, in fact, the invaders.
Biology[]
While presumably aquatic, the Coelenterates have never been observed in their natural habitat. The only known encounters have involved featureless metallic tanks that crawled out of the seas. From these tanks emerge spherical gelatinous masses that can rapidly contract their bodies, launching out multiple long tentacles with adhesive properties. The tentacles snatch animals (including but not limited to Humans) and pull their helpless victims with incredible strength towards the central mass when they are retracted.
The creatures' bodies are bulletproof. Attempts to shoot the tentacles have been unsuccessful, although it's not known whether the bullets passed through them or simply missed.
Dr. Bocker believes these creatures to be some kind of cnidarian, comparing them to sea anemones. However, he also believes that they aren't living creatures in the traditional sense, but something more akin to organic constructs, remotely controlled by their creators.
Appearances[]
- The Kraken Wakes, a.k.a. Out of the Deeps, by John Wyndham (1953)