Alien Creatures

If someone wrote a sci-fi novel and described an alien creature that was built around a single buoyant gas-filled bone with slimy, slug-like body around it; with two really long retractable feeding tentacles with suckers on the end, and eight short arm-like protrusions, and one bird-like beak; and the ability crawl with its arms, to swim slowly by gently waving its sides, or to jet quickly by shooting water out of its mouth; and the ability to spray a nasty tasting dark brown slime; and the ability to instantly control the color and texture of almost its entire body...

I would tell them to try and think of something that was a bit more believable. Like this.