"....Suddenly, an eerie stillness descended on the reef as the small, brightly coloured fish and other denizens hurridly dashed into the darkness. From the cave entrance, a long, writhing tentacle came into view, followed by another and another, until a great sickly flower or tendrils suddenly burst forth, surrounding a gaping maw. Then the body appeared behind those tentacles, a pulsating banded mass of nauseating green and brown, bursting into view like some leathery freight train. More of it appeared, 10...20...30....40 .... good lord how BIG was this thing!? I desperately tried to flee but my arm brushed against the slavering titan in my struggles and immediately stuck fast to it!"

This thing burst out of a newly acquired piece of live rock that had been imported from the mystical city of G'harne...(er...Indonesia)

After a quick perusal of my Penguin children's paperback edition of the Necronomicon, I identified this creature as a juvenile chthonian, about 70cm long when fully stretched. Alas I found myself unable to cater to the needs of even a baby great old one, and after reciting prayers to Shudde M'ell and Shub Niggurath, returned it to the petstore (eww sticky!).

I was really reluctant to part with this wonderful critter - but the so called "Jersey Sleeve" (Synapta maculata) DOES get to something like 7 feet in length and needs a deep live substrate to forage on so caring for it is not as easy as a killer stomatopod...plus holothuroids have a habit of self-eviscerating their toxic innards when pissed off and if a specimen as big as this one decided to throw its guts out it would poison the whole tank.

Oh...and just to note that these photos were taken in the space of just 1 minute - this thing can MOVE - I mean like "Anaconda chasing Jennifer Lopez's curvy butt" kind of move. S. maculata is a peaceful detritivore...but If "sea-cucumbers" ever evolved carnivory we would be SO dead..