The two-foot salamanders of Missouri are so horrific they're called 'snot otters', 'mud devils' or even 'old lasagne sides'.
But we urge you to spare a space in your heart for this unfortunate-looking species because it is facing a very tough time right now.
Snot otter is the colloquial name for the Ozark hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis bishopi), an amphibious, nocturnal carnivore which lurks under rocks during the day and emerges to hunt when night falls.
In the rivers of Missouri, numbers of these benighted beasties have fallen from 27,000 during the 20th century to roughly 600 today.
Pollution, disease and even the illegal pet trade are thought to have caused this disastrous population collapse. 
The Ozark hellbender, which is also known as the snot otter or Old Lasagna Sides (Picture: Jill Utrup/USFWS)
Now a group of hero scientists have stepped up to save the snot otter.
Saint Louis Zoo is overseeing a breeding programme which has seen almost 6,000 bogey-monsters released into the wild.
At first, it was hard to get snot otters to breed in which is unsurprising, you might think, because they are so ugly that it's hard to believe males and females could find each other attractive.
The problem was caused by the hardness of the water, which was interfering with the salamanders' sperm.
In the wild, male snot otters are vicious warriors.
'If another male tries to enter the next box, the male guardian will sometimes fight to the death to protect the nest,' Mark Wanner, the zoo's manager of herpetology and aquatic species, told Scientific American.
It's believed hellbenders were given their name because fishermen used to joke that they looked as if they had crawled out of hell.
People who want to help make sure Old Lasagne Sides doesn't disappear from our beautiful planet can make a donation to Saint Louis Zoo.
So we're begging you: please do what you can to save the snot otter.
via http://bit.ly/2XaeKza
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