“Nubbins” is episode six of season one of Sanctuary.
Magnus, Will and Ashley are in a helicopter heading out to a ship. The ship, which has an Abnormal hunter on board, hasn’t responded to contact. Apparently, the hunter had found a couple of new types of Abnormals.
When they get on board, they find everyone dead – and partially eaten. One of the species of Abnormals has apparently escaped and killed everyone; the other is locked up. The escaped species is a predator; both have a camouflage ability that makes them hard to spot. They manage to successfully tranquillise the predator, and take both species back to the Sanctuary.
The second species is so ridiculously cute and cuddly – they look rather like a Furby – that you just know they’re going to be a bigger problem than they appear. Nothing that cute in this sort of program is going to be that easy – as anyone who’s seen Gremlins will agree.
The small chameleonic creatures – which Ashley calls ‘nubbins’ prove to breed. A lot. Think Tribbles from the Star Trek episode “The Trouble with Tribbles” (or the DS9 episode “Trials and Tribble-ations”). When they escape from their pen, they start breeding even more rapidly, and eating all the food. They also have some side effects.
Dr. Magnus has also been asked to do an autopsy of a man who thought he was Abnormal, as specified in his will. His body has been brought in by his granddaughter. Of course, there will be abnormalities in both of them.