Horrifying creature spotted on sea floor

Here's yet more proof there's some seriously weird stuff lurking beneath the surface of the ocean.

This creepy-looking creature apparently baffled experts who stumbled upon it in the Adriatic Sea off the coast of Italy.

David Shiffman, a marine biologist specialising a shark conservation, queried his Twitter followers on what the abomination might be.

He said it was described to him as approximately 40 centimetres wide and "undulating like a ray".

Shiffman's followers joked that the creature must be the offspring of Cthulhu — the otherworldly monster created by author H.P. Lovecraft, which sleeps under the sea and drives humans insane.

Fortunately, internet quickly determined the mysterious animal isn't a herald of the apocalypse.

Related: Signs the apocalypse is coming

It's merely a predatory sea slug called Tethys fimbria, which lives in the soft sand around the Mediterranean and normally grows to around 30 centimetres.

Put the end of the world on hold for another day.

Source: io9