The ichthyological diversity of Pokémon Augusto B. Mendes1, Felipe V. Guimarães2, Clara B. P. Eirado-Silva1 & Edson P. Silva1 1Universidade Federal Fluminense, Niterói, RJ, Brazil. 2Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, São Gonçalo, RJ, Brazil. Emails: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] Pokémon, or Pocket Monsters, was 1998, selling together more than 10 million originally created for videogames, becoming a copies. Also in 1998, the Yellow version of the worldwide fever among kids and teenagers in game was released, which has as its most the end of the 1990’s and early 2000’s. distinct feature the possibility of having Pikachu Currently, it is still a success, with numerous (the most famous Pokémon) walking side by games, a TV series, comic books, movies, a side with the player in the game. Pokémon Trading Card Game, toys and collectibles. Green, Red, Blue and Yellow are the so-called Through its core products and vibrant “first generation” of games in the franchise. merchandising, Pokémon took over the world, Today, the Pokémon series is in its seventh influencing pop culture wherever it landed. generation, with 29 main games released, Despite losing some steam in the early 2010’s, besides several spin-offs. The TV series, on the Pokémon is now back to its previous uproar other hand, is in its sixth season, with more with the release of Pokémon GO, an augmented than 900 episodes. reality (AR) game for smartphones. This game The games and TV series take place in launched in 2016, with almost 21 million users regions inhabited by many Pokémon and downloading it in the very first week in the humans. The mission of the protagonist is to United States alone (Dorward et al., 2017). win competitions (“Pokémon battles”) against Thus, Pokémon is indubitably an icon in pop gym leaders who are spread across different culture (Schlesinger, 1999a; Tobin, 2004). cities and regions. For each victory, the The origin of Pokémon goes back to two protagonist receives a gym badge; with eight role-playing video games (created by Satoshi badges, he/she is allowed to enter the Tajiri and released by Nintendo for the Game Pokémon League to try and become the Boy; Kent, 2001): Pokémon Green and Pokémon Champion. Red, released in Japan in 1996. In the West, the For each generation, new Pokémon (and an Green version never saw the light of day, but entire new region) are introduced. In this way, the Red and Blue versions were released in the creatures have a homeland, although most Journal of Geek Studies 4(1): 39–67. 2017. 39 Mendes, A.B. et al. can appear in other regions as well means they all lay eggs (their development (Schlesinger, 1999b; Whitehill et al., 2016). The happens inside of an egg and outside of their seven main regions are: Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, mother’s body); of course, in the real natural Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos and Alola. world, this is a reproductive strategy of animals In every region, there are numbered routes such as fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds and that connect cities and landmarks and in which many kinds of invertebrates (Blackburn, 1999). the protagonist travels, finding the monsters in Moreover, Pokémon might “evolve”, usually their natural habitats and interacting with other meaning they undergo some cosmetic changes, characters. These routes comprise a great become larger and gain new powers. range of environments, such as forests, caves, In the present work, the Pokémon world deserts, mountains, fields, seas, beaches, was approached by analogies with the real underwater places, mangroves, rivers and natural world, establishing parallels with actual marshes, which usually display a huge diversity animals. of Pokémon. A remarkable group of animals represented In addition to winning the Pokémon League, in Pokémon is the fishes. Fishes are the largest the protagonist must complete the Pokédex, a group of vertebrates, with more than 32,000 digital encyclopedia of Pokémon. In other species inhabiting marine and freshwater words, the trainer must catch all the Pokémon environments, a number that roughly that live in that region, registering each capture corresponds to half of all described vertebrates in the Pokédex. Each Pokémon has a registry (Nelson et al., 2016). Showing ample number and an entry text in the Pokédex. morphological and behavioral variety and living Pokémon are usually found in nature, and may in most of the aquatic ecosystems of the be captured with a device called “Pokéball”. planet, fishes are well represented in the Pokéballs are small enough to fit in a pocket, Pokémon world, therefore offering a great hence the name “Pocket Monsters” (Whitehill opportunity for establishing parallels between et al., 2016). the two worlds. The creators of the games not only used the morphology of real animals as a NOT AS MONSTRUOUS AS WE THINK source of inspiration for the monsters, but also In the world depicted in the games, there their ecology and behavior. are 801 Pokémon, belonging to one or two of Based on these obvious connections the following 18 types: Normal, Fire, Fighting, between real fishes and Pokémon, the aim of Water, Flying, Grass, Poison, Electric, Ground, this work is to describe the ichthyological Psychic, Rock, Ice, Bug, Dragon, Ghost, Dark, diversity found in Pokémon based on Steel and Fairy (Bulbapedia, 2017). Almost all taxonomic criteria of the classification of real Pokémon are based on animal species, some of fishes. Ultimately, our goal is to offer useful them are based on plants or mythological material for both teaching and the creatures, and a few are based on objects. popularization of science. Curiously, all Pokémon are oviparous, which Journal of Geek Studies 4(1): 39–67. 2017. 40 Ichthyological diversity of Pokémon Table 1. Taxonomic classification of the fish Pokémon. Abbreviations: Ch = Chondrichthyes; Gn = Gnathostomata; Pe = Petromyzontomorphi; Pt = Petromyzontida; Os = Osteichthyes. All images obtained from The Official Pokémon Website (2016). Pokémon Common Super- Species Family Order Class Pokédex No. Name Image Type Region Name class 116 Horsea Water Kanto Seahorse Hippocampus sp. Syngnathidae Syngnathiformes Os Gn 117 Seadra Water Kanto Seahorse Hippocampus sp. Syngnathidae Syngnathiformes Os Gn Carassius auratus Linnaeus, 118 Goldeen Water Kanto Goldfish Cyprinidae Cypriniformes Os Gn 1758 Carassius auratus Linnaeus, 119 Seaking Water Kanto Goldfish Cyprinidae Cypriniformes Os Gn 1758 Cyprinus carpio Linnaeus, 129 Magikarp Water Kanto Common carp Cyprinidae Cypriniformes Os Gn 1758 Water / 170 Chinchou Johto Footballfish Himantolophus sp. Himantolophidae Lophiiformes Os Gn Electric Water / 171 Lanturn Johto Footballfish Himantolophus sp. Himantolophidae Lophiiformes Os Gn Electric Water / 211 Qwilfish Johto Porcupinefish Diodon sp. Diodontidae Tetraodontiformes Os Gn Poison Remora, 223 Remoraid Water Johto Remora sp. Echeneidae Carangiformes Os Gn Suckerfish Water / Manta birostris Walbaum, 226 Mantine Johto Manta ray Myliobatidae Myliobatiformes Ch Gn Flying 1792 Water / Common Phyllopteryx taeniolatus 230 Kingdra Johto Syngnathidae Syngnathiformes Os Gn Dragon seadragon Lacepède 1804 Water / 318 Carvanha Hoenn Red piranha Pygocentrus sp. Serrasalmidae Characiformes Os Gn Dark Water / 319 Sharpedo Hoenn Shark — — Carcharhiniformes Ch Gn Dark Water / 339 Barboach Hoenn Pond loach Misgurnus sp. Cobitidae Cypriniformes Os Gn Ground Water / 340 Whiscash Hoenn Catfish Silurus sp. Siluridae Siluriformes Os Gn Ground Largemouth Micropterus salmoides 349 Feebas Water Hoenn Centrarchidae Perciformes Os Gn bass Lacepède, 1802 350 Milotic Water Hoenn Oarfish Regalecus sp. Regalecidae Lampriformes Os Gn 367 Huntail Water Hoenn Onejaw Monognathus sp. Monognathidae Anguilliformes Os Gn 368 Gorebyss Water Hoenn Snipe eel — Nemichthyidae Anguilliformes Os Gn Water / 369 Relicanth Hoenn Coelacanth Latimeria sp. Latimeriidae Coelacanthiformes Os Gn Rock Helostoma temminckii 370 Luvdisc Water Hoenn Kissing gourami Helostomatidae Anabantiformes Os Gn Cuvier, 1829 Freshwater Pantodon buchholzi Peters, 456 Finneon Water Sinnoh Pantodontidae Osteoglossiformes Os Gn butterflyfish 1876 Freshwater Pantodon buchholzi Peters, 457 Lumineon Water Sinnoh Pantodontidae Osteoglossiformes Os Gn butterflyfish 1876 Water / Manta birostris Walbaum, 458 Mantyke Sinnoh Manta ray Myliobatidae Myliobatiformes Ch Gn Flying 1792 Journal of Geek Studies 4(1): 39–67. 2017. 41 Mendes, A.B. et al. Table 1. (cont.) Pokémon Common Super- Species Family Order Class Pokédex No. Name Image Type Region Name class 550 Basculin Water Unova Piranha — Serrasalmidae Characiformes Os Gn 594 Alomomola Water Unova Sunfish Mola mola Linnaeus, 1758 Molidae Tetraodontiformes Os Gn Petromyzon marinus 602 Tynamo Electric Unova Sea lamprey Petromyzontidae Petromyzontiformes Pt Pe Linnaeus, 1758 Petromyzon marinus 603 Eelektrik Electric Unova Sea lamprey Petromyzontidae Petromyzontiformes Pt Pe Linnaeus, 1758 Petromyzon marinus 604 Eelektross Electric Unova Sea lamprey Petromyzontidae Petromyzontiformes Pt Pe Linnaeus, 1758 Ground / 618 Stunfisk Unova Flatfish — — Pleuronectiformes Os Gn Electric Poison / Common Phyllopteryx taeniolatus 690 Skrelp Kalos Syngnathidae Syngnathiformes Os Gn Water seadragon Lacepède 1804 Poison / Leafy Phycodurus eques Günther, 691 Dragalge Kalos Syngnathidae Syngnathiformes Os Gn Dragon seadragon 1865 Sardinops sagax (Jenyns, 746 Wishiwashi Water Alola Pacific sardine Clupeidae Clupeiformes Os Gn 1842) Water / Rhinecanthus rectangulus