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The Mollusk-Inspired Pokémon

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The Mollusk-Inspired Pokémon Journal of Geek Studies jgeekstudies.org Pokémollusca: the mollusk-inspired Pokémon Rodrigo B. Salvador¹ & Daniel C. Cavallari² ¹ Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, New Zealand. ² Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil. Emails: [email protected], [email protected] The phylum Mollusca appeared during which include mussels and clams. the Cambrian Period, over 500 million years ago, alongside most other animal groups Curious creatures that they are, mollusks (including the Chordata, the group we be- make nice “monsters” and are constantly long to). There are even some older fossils being featured in video games (Cavallari, that could be mollusks, although their iden- 2015; Salvador & Cunha, 2016; Salvador, tity is still hotly debated among scientists. 2017). One very famous game that features mollusks is Pokémon, a franchise that started Mollusks are a very biodiverse group. with two games released by Nintendo for We do not yet know the precise number of the Game Boy in 1996. More than 20 years species, since many are still unknown and later, the series is still strong, currently on being described every year. However, esti- the so-called seventh generation of core mates go from 70,000 to 200,000 (Rosenberg, games, but counting with several other 2014). And that’s just for the living species. video games, an animated series, films, a As such, mollusks have long been consid- card game, and tons of merchandise. Also, ered the second most diverse group of ani- there’s an eight generation of games on the mals – the first place belongs to arthropods. horizon. Mollusks can be found in almost all sorts Most monsters in Pokémon are based on of habitats: land, freshwater and marine, real animals (see, for instance, Tomotani, including the deep sea and hot vents. The 2014; Mendes et al., 2017; Kittel, 2018), so the only thing they can’t do is fly. goal of this article is to present those based on mollusks. Some of them were just broad- They are also a very unique group in ly based on a larger group of mollusks, terms of body shapes (morphology), in- such as ‘octopuses’, while others seem to cluding extremely disparate forms: snails, have been inspired by particular species. slugs, clams, mussels, squids, octopuses, Thus, we indicate the real species or group nautiluses, chitons, tusk shells, and the odd that served as inspiration for the monsters worm-like aplacophorans. And there were and explain a little bit about their biology. other forms yet, which are now extinct: am- Whenever possible, we outline specific fea- monoids, belemnites and rudists. Mollusks tures of the real animals that were trans- go from tiny snails less than a millimeter ported to the games (such as types, moves, long to giant squids, almost 20 meters long abilities, etc.). and the largest known invertebrates. The main groups of mollusks, however, are just three: Gastropoda, or gastropods, which include snails and slugs; Cephalop- LIST OF MOLLUSK POKÉMON oda, or cephalopods, which include squids We analyze each mollusk Pokémon be- and octopuses; and Bivalvia, or bivalves, low; they are listed in the same order as in 55 Salvador & Cavallari the National Pokédex (this number is given 2006). They do have incredible eyes with with a “#” on each entry). All the illustra- a very intricate structure that allows them tions of the Pokémon reproduced here are to measure amounts and intensity of light the official art by Ken Sugimori and were coming from different directions (Morton, extracted from Bulbapedia (https://bulba- 2008). As far as we know, scallops can dis- pedia.bulbagarden.net/). Likewise, all in- criminate light from dark, spot surround- formation on the Pokémon (size, weight, ing algae, and perceive moving objects or and description of abilities and moves) obstacles (and react accordingly). Judging were taken from their entries in Bulbapedia, by its real-world counterparts, Shellder considering only the game’s current gener- shouldn’t necessarily have a hard time aim- ation (Gen VII). ing its “Clamp” or “Razor Shell” attacks, hiding from someone else’s attacks, or The systematic classification of the mol- swimming away from menacing foes. And lusks used here follows Bouchet et al. (2010, yes, scallops also have awesome swimming 2017) and WoRMS (World Register of Ma- abilities, which are also not common among rine Species). Images of real mollusks were bivalves in general. Most bivalves are very extracted from Wikimedia Commons, ex- good swimmers during their early days as cept where otherwise noted; credits are giv- planktonic larvae (known as veligers), but en in each figure’s caption. become sessile when adults, spending their lives burrowed in the sand or attached to a rock or other hard surface. Shellder (#090; Type: Water) Class: Bivalvia (bivalves) Order: Pectinida (scallops and oysters) Family: Pectinidae (scallops) With its googly eyes and what seems to be a hanging tongue, Shellder looks some- what scared or mesmerized (or perhaps both). This small shell-bearing fellow is Top: Scallops on the seabed (CSIRO, 2001). Bottom: surely designed after a bivalve mollusk. Close-up of the blue eyes (M. Krummins, 2014). And, curiously enough, the large eyes are actually not out of character: even though As for the shell itself, Shellder seems to most bivalves have no eyes, the Pectinida, belong to the family Pectinidae because a.k.a. the scallops and their allies, are an of its overall shape. Even so, Shellder’s amazing exception. These animals are found tongue, in particular, is a very interesting in all of the planet’s oceans and the family topic. It looks very similar to a bivalve’s Pectinidae is in fact one of the largest ma- foot, a bulky, muscular structure that al- rine bivalve families, including over 300 liv- lows it to burrow itself into the sand, among ing species belonging to 60 genera (Waller, other things. However, though the foot is Journal of Geek Studies 6(1): 55-75 (2019). Pokémollusca very conspicuous in most bivalve lineages, times larger and heavier than Shellder, it is reduced in pectinids (Shumway & Par- spanning up to 1.5 m wide and weighing sons, 2011). At the same time, though they over 130 kg, a size unattainable for any re- are never protruded, some of the animal’s al-world spondylid, but still not entirely fic- organs such as the gonads are often visible tional: some bivalves in the family Tridacni- from the outside in real world bivalves, and dae (a.k.a. giant clams) can weight over 200 they can resemble a tongue hanging be- kg (Knop, 1996). Nevertheless, even though tween open lips. We do, however, prefer to spondylids certainly do not grow to such think of Shellder’s tongue as a foot for ob- humongous proportions, the increased size vious reasons. Pectinids usually don’t grow and the prominent, more numerous spikes up to the huge proportions of 0.3 m and 4 make up for a more menacing and stron- kg informed by the Pokédex, but other re- ger version of the childly-looking Shellder, al-world clams can become even larger (see with a malicious look as a bonus. Cloyster below). Cloyster (#091; Type: Water / Ice) Class: Bivalvia (bivalves) Order: Pectinida (scallops and oysters) Family: Spondylidae (thorny oysters) Genus: Spondylus Linnaeus, 1758 A rather fierce-looking version of its pre-evolved state, Cloyster sports a larger, thicker and rougher shell, complete with spikes/thorns, which are typical features of the bivalve family Spondylidae. Common- ly known as thorny or spiky oysters (they are not part of the so-called “true oysters”, Top: Spondylus regius Linnaeus, 1758 (D. Descouens, which belong to the family Ostreidae), 2009). Bottom: Spondylus sp. (F. Ducarme, 2018). spondylids are close relatives of the com- mon scallops (Matsumoto & Hayami, 2000). The attacks are all very similar to Shell- Among many other striking morphological der’s, with the addition of a “Spike Cannon” characters, such as their many eyes spread move (yet another reference to the thorny along the animal’s mantle, pectinids and Spondylus shells). Likewise, if Shellder is spondylids share an overall similar shell based on pectinids and Cloyster on spon- outline but the latter are usually bulkier and dylids, the “close” relationship between the spikier. two Pokémon thus elegantly (though hard- As for being bulkier, Cloyster is many ly intentionally) reflects their real-world 57 Salvador & Cavallari kinship. tar are Rock-type. On a side note, the Helix Fossil recently spun its own mythology on Of course, spondylids are not the only Twitch Plays Pokémon, where it acted as a spiky bivalves out there. The Japanese spiky sort of oracle to the players (for the whole oyster, Saccostraea kegaki Torigo & Inaba, story, see Salvador, 2014). 1981 (family Ostreidae), for example, also has a spiky shell that seems quite uninviting Despite being very similar to a real am- to the touch. But spikes aside, it lacks some monoid fossil, Omanyte bears a huge flaw other traits observable in Cloyster that indi- in its design. The soft body is positioned in cates it was probably inspired by real-world an inverted manner in relation to the shell. spondylids, e.g., the bulkier shell. Besides, That is, Omanyte’s body is positioned like true oysters have very variable shape, not the body of a snail (a gastropod), rather very similar to Cloyster’s symmetrical, scal- than like the body of a cephalopod (Sal- lop-like profile. Its shell also includes wing- vador, 2014). Omanyte is depicted with 10 like or ear-like projections located at the arms, but the real numbers an ammonoid rear (called auricles), which also appear in would actually have is unknown because some spondylid species (Shumway & Par- other living cephalopods have a variable sons, 2011).
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