Bem, finalmente encontramos alguns diálogos do filme -
Canton: [Captain Atherton has just been eaten by one of the monsters]
I'm beginning to fear that our friends here may be some kind of
strange off-shoot of the Archaea Ottoia family.
Pantucci: The Ottoia family? To think I was startin' to worry.
Canton: These creatures are actually part of a larger body...
something we haven's seen yet. They live deep under the surface of any
ocean. At 4,000 feet the Ottoia are only as long as a pencil, with
bodies about the size of a golf ball. But those at 20,000 feet have
been known to eat full grown sharks! At 30,000 or 40,000 feet...
[to Pantucci]
Canton: Well... you do the math.
Trillian St. James: This is not good.
Pantucci: Are we talkin' some kind of mutated sea monsters here?
Mason: Who gives a shit what they are? Just tell us how to kill these
motherfuckers.
Canton: The Ottoia are very crafty. They hide in burrows. They catch
their victims with spiny living tentacles. Then they crush them
between massive jaws.
Trillian St. James: Then they eat you, right?
Canton: No, they drink you. They drink you alive. Sucking all the
fluids out of the body before excreting the skeletal remains.
E é exatamente assim que vemos os monstros matando os alvos.
Então minha resposta é MUTATED OTTOIA ...