Blast-Ended Skrewt

"I can certainly see why we're trying to keep them alive. Who wouldn't want pets that can burn, sting, and bite all at once?"

- Draco Malfoy's sarcastic comment on the creatures.

The Blast-Ended Skrewt is a hybrid creature bred by Rubeus Hagrid in the autumn of 1994, by crossing Manticores and Fire crabs. Whether Hagrid used magic or somehow got the two to mate is unknown.

Description
Newly hatched Skrewts looked like pale, slimy deformed shell-less lobsters. They had legs sticking out at odd angles. They were about six inches long and smelled strongly of rotten fish. Sparks flew out of their ends every so often which propelled them forward a few inches. The males had stingers and the females had suckers on their body to suck blood. The skrewts do not hibernate during winter.

After two months of caring for the Skrewts they were three feet long and extremely ill tempered, making it hard to get close to one. They grew grey, shiny armour over their pale bodies and began to look like a cross between giant scorpions and elongated crabs. The males held their stingers over their backs, and were highly dangerous and repulsive.

By June, the Skrewts had grown ten feet long, and were incredibly dangerous (and probably quite lethal). They resembled giant scorpions with stingers curled over their backs. Their shiny armour deflected most spells, and they used their blasts to propel themselves at a foe. Its single undefended spot was its armour-less underside.

History
One of these Skrewts was placed inside the Triwizard Tournament maze, and Harry defeated it by using the Impediment Jinx on its underside.

Hagrid began breeding the Skrewts at the beginning of September, and had several hundred. By the following June, he only had one, which was the one that was placed in the maze. Hagrid never found what they ate, and they killed each other off mostly, so it is not surprising they died so quickly. The remaining one may have been released in the forest, or maybe Hagrid kept it for breeding, or it eventually died off.

Rita Skeeter claimed that the Daily Prophet had a Zoological column every Wednesday and said that the Bang-Ended Scoots could be the event that day if Hagrid gave an interview. However the Skrewts never did feature in the Daily Prophet's zoological column.

In June 1996, following the Stunner attack on Minerva McGonagall by Dolores Umbridge and other British Ministry of Magic officials, Ronald Weasley suggested feeding her to a box of starving Blast-Ended Skrewts as an appropriate punishment. Harry Potter thought the idea "had its merits."

Behind the scenes

 * The Skrewts appear to be massive violations of the Ban on Experimental Breeding, but Hagrid is never charged for it. This may be because Hagrid eventually had one placed in the Triwizard Tournament, possibly indicating his intent to breed them for that purpose.
 * In the video game adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Skrewts are encountered as enemies in several locations, rather than just the one found in the maze during the Third Task. The Skrewts have sexual dimorphism: males and females are red- and orange-tinged, respectively. Also, they bear little resemblance to their description in the book.
 * In the DS version of LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4, there are some Skrewts trying to kill Buckbeak, so the player has to cast spells on them to make them go away.
 * Harry Potter felt that the idea of a teenage Dumbledore "was simply odd, like trying to imagine a stupid Hermione or a friendly Blast-Ended Skrewt."

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film) 
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
 * LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
 * Pottermore

Notes and references
Escreguto de cola explosiva Scroutt à pétard Соплохвост Sklątka tylnowybuchowa