Coeurl

Coeurl is a fictional alien race of predators created by the late science fiction novelist A. E. van Vogt (1912-2000) and featured in his first published short story "Black Destroyer" (1939), later incorporated in the novel The Voyage of the Space Beagle (1950). Its appearance is comparable to a large cat, except that its forelegs are twice as long as its hind legs, and it possesses tentacles (most likely two) attached to its shoulders which terminate in suction cups. Its skin coloration is not mentioned but, in addition to the story title, is also depicted as black in the cover art for the original magazine appearance. It sustains itself by feeding upon a substance it calls the Id of other beings, which is not related to the Freudian concept but is actually organic phosphorus, most probably as the phosphate groups bound in ATP.