It's about the size of a dinner plate and sounds quite fetching, with yellow markings on its face and red stripes behind each eye.
But don't let its looks fool you.
The exotic Red-eared Slider Turtle - caught this week after five years on the run in Victorian bushland - is an environmental menace that poses an extreme threat to native animals and their habitats.
Believed to have been illegally released into the Blackburn Lake, in Melbourne's eastern suburbs, the fully grown adult turtle eluded authorities and an expert trapper from Queensland during its time at large.
It was finally caught by a Blackburn woman who saw it crossing a road near the lake on the weekend.
Recognising the turtle as an impostor, the woman placed it in a paddling pool in her backyard before handing it over to the Department of Sustainability and Environment.
DSE senior investigator Keith Larner said today the turtle would be euthanased to ensure it posed no further threat to biodiversity.
Red-eared Slider Turtles lay up to 70 eggs each year and the species is in the World Conservation Union's top 100 `world's worst invaders' list.
"They breed prolifically and they prey aggressively on native frogs and fish," Mr Larner said.
"In doing so, they reduce the food available to our native animals.
"These turtles have no natural predators here in Australia. They are popular as pets in the United States but here they can only be described as menaces."
Mr Larner said Queensland authorities had spent millions of dollars trying to eradicate the Red-eared Slider Turtle, which is a class-one pest "right up there with crazy ants".
"We only need to look at Queensland to discover the price we will pay if the species becomes established in the wild," he said.
It is believed there is another Red-eared Slider Turtle in Blackburn Lake, and one or more in Doncaster's Ruffy Lake.
While it is illegal to set traps to catch the pests, Mr Larner urged members of the public to report sightings of the turtles to DSE on 136 186.
People who keep, trade or breed the Red-eared Slider face fines of up to $110,000 or jail terms of five years under Commonwealth law.
More than 30 Red-eared Slider Turtles have been captured or handed in over the past six years.
Authorities are yet to establish if the latest discovery is a male or female.
Mr Larner said it was the largest Red-eared Slider Turtle seen so far in Victoria.
Authorities had been aware of its presence in Blackburn Lake for many years but the landscape made it difficult to lay traps.
"Where this animal lives it was difficult to trap,'' he said.
"I have seen it just floating in the water with just its nose sticking out.''
