Did you know that Benzites are immune to poison? They can also pretty much eat anything ... but it seems to me that if you take that big metallic vaporizer away from their faces that apparently allows them to breathe our atmosphere more easily then that would pretty much screw them up now, wouldn't it? In a combat situation, the big, protruding metal arm that's sticking out in front of them is a pretty big disadvantage. They also look like fish: it's a known fact that any species in a sci-fi show that looks like a fish is always physically weak and unintimidating. There's precedent: Admiral Ackbar from Star Wars? Yeah, good strategist, but you think those floppy squid-hands are going to save him in a fist-fight? He'd be on his butt faster than you can shout "it's a trap"! Then there's Abe Sapien from "Hellboy" think he's a threat? Seriously, fish aliens are not what you work with to create an intimidating species. They're also about as detail-oriented as a 75-year old counting change at the cash checkout line. In "A Matter of Honor", one Benzite didn't even want to report crucial information to Captain Picard until he had figured everything out first. He had to do sensor analyses, biological testing and if the hull-eating life-form that he noticed on a visiting Klingon ship was the same one that was on the Enterprise. That's pretty much like trying to explain Facebook to your grandmother.