Sharktopus

The Sharktopus are a species of creature which feature in SyFy Channel’s Sharktopus franchise.

Description
Genetically-engineered monsters, the Sharktopus were created by the United States military as organic weapons. Their front half is that of a Great White shark, whilst the rear end is composed of the eight tentacles of an octopus, and the combination of these traits makes them deadly opponents. Despite having the gills of a fish, they are quite capable of surviving on land, at least for short periods of time, in a similar way to an octopus.

History
When the black operations project known as Blue Water went horrifically wrong, the original Sharktopus - which was supposed to be sterile - embarked upon a rampage across Southern California and Mexico. It was finally stopped by the valiant efforts by both civilian and military personnel who managed to detonate the explosives which had been implanted in its brain before activation. The Sharktopus had however, laid a sac of eggs before it died; how it accomplished this remains unknown.

A few years later, a marine biologist discovered one of the Sharktopus eggs and nurtured it to adulthood at her billionaire uncle’s aquarium. Unfortunately, her uncle was developing a weapon of his own: the Pteracuda, a monster created from the spliced DNA of a pteranodon and a barracuda. When one of his engineers attempted to steal the beast to sell to the highest bidder it got loose, and only when the biologist and a security guard fitted the Sharktopus with a neural controller was the Pteracuda defeated, although the Sharktopus was able to shake off the ability of its controller.

The next year, two scientists attempted to help an aging baseball players’ illness by administering a concoction of genetic material consisting of strands of DNA from a Killer Whale and a Grey Wolf. Needless to say, this treatment went horribly wrong, and the Sharktopus went to bat against the resultant rampaging Whalewolf.

Trivia

 * In the Adventures of the Sea Kids books and Sea Kids animated TV show, the character Freddy bears a heavy resemblance to the Sharktopus. His species is also referred to as "Sharktopus". Freddy is just toned down to be more appealing to a younger crowd, with no spikes or lower fins.