They poke their noses out of the water, squeak with delight — and they're trained to kill.

Ukrainian dolphins trained to find underwater mines and kill enemy divers have skirted their navy handlers and swam off, apparently in search of mates, according to the Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

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In a story that sounds more like a science fiction plot than a defence strategy, the news agency is reporting that three dolphins did not return to their Sevastopol base after exercises earlier this month.

It wouldn't be so disturbing if these dolphins weren't supposedly part of a revived training program in Ukraine for which the animals were trained to attack combat swimmers using knives or pistols attached to their heads. Cue Jaws music, but picture monsters that lure their victims with cute dolphin tricks.

In fact, there's no word on whether the dolphins in question were armed. The former Soviet naval officer quoted in the RIA Novosti story says training dolphins was common in the 1980s and males would sometimes swim off in pursuit of females during mating season, but they would return in about a week.

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Blogger Justin Gregg shared a documentary about the former Soviet military dolphins, which describes the animals as "aquatic James Bonds."

They'll take that fish martini shaken, not stirred.