Basculin (Pokémon)


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Basculin (Japanese: バスラオ Bassrao) is a  introduced in Generation V.

While it is not known to evolve into or from any other Pokémon, it does have two different appearances: Red-Striped Form, which has a red stripe and irises, with a round eye and spiky fins; and Blue-Striped Form, which has a blue stripe and irises, with a slit eye and smooth fins.

Biology
The bodies of both the red- and blue-striped forms are the same. They have a green, ovoid body, tapering off in the rear to a trapezoidal tail fin. A thick black stripe covers the top of their body from mouth to tail and a white, dorsal fin with four protrusions resembling spikes. Their lower jaw juts ahead of their upper jaw, with a small indent near the edges of their mouth. Both forms have three black dots on both sides of their body, behind their pectoral fins.

The main difference between the two forms of Basculin is the color of the stripe that separates the black and green on their body. Both forms of Basculin have fins in the same places, with one on top of their body ahead of the tail fin, one below the body ahead of the tail fin, and two side fins. However, red-striped Basculin have jagged fins that resemble tridents, whereas blue-striped Basculin have smooth fins all around. Red-striped Basculin have circular, red eyes, while blue-striped Basculin have narrower, blue eyes.

Both forms of Basculin are extremely hostile, especially towards their opposite form. Red- and blue-striped Basculin generally start fighting each other on sight for territory. However, on rare occasions, one form may swim with the other's school. When a school of Basculin appears in a lake, Pokémon other than and  flee. Basculin are also consumed by humans and are considered very delicious.

Major appearances
Both forms of Basculin debuted in A Fishing Connoisseur in a Fishy Competition!. managed to capture a Blue-Striped one during a fishing competition, but a  released it. A Red-Striped and a Blue-Striped one were seen being reeled in by two s. managed to fish another Blue-Striped one with her bare hands but was penalized for it.

A Red-Striped Basculin appeared in PK22.

Minor appearances
Both forms of Basculin appeared in White—Victini and Zekrom and Black—Victini and Reshiram; the Blue-Striped form was exclusive to the former movie and the Red-Striped form was exclusive to the latter.

Multiple Basculin appeared in Stopping the Rage of Legends! Part 1 and Part 2.

Multiple Blue-Striped Basculin appeared in Kyurem VS. The Sword of Justice.

Multiple Red-Striped Basculin appeared in The Mystery of the Missing Cubchoo!.

Multiple Red-Striped Basculin and one Blue-Striped appeared in Going for the Gold!, where they were among the Pokémon seen in the.

In the Be the Best! Pokémon B+W manga
In The Key to Triple Battles, Cheren uses a red-striped Basculin against Monta in a Triple Battle.

In the Pokémon Adventures manga
A red-striped Basculin was first seen in Underground Showdown. One appeared at, jumping out of the water as and Clay traveled to Chargestone Cave. Another one appeared in Dream a Little Dream.

A blue-striped Basculin is owned by one of the Shadow Triad. It was used to attack Lenora at Nacrene City. It first appeared in The Battle Within.

A blue and red-striped Basculin appeared in PS541.

Pokédex entries

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Red-Striped Form

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Blue-Striped Form

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Game locations

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In side games

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Side game data







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Trivia

 * In Pokémon Black and White, blue-striped Basculin have the same two standard possible Abilities as red-striped Basculin— and (and is listed as such in Pokédex 3D); however, the blue-striped Basculin that can be obtained via in-game trade in White has the Ability . In Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, wild blue-striped Basculin's two standard possible Abilities are  and, while red-striped Basculin's stay the same (and are listed as such in Pokédex 3D Pro). However, blue-striped Basculin bred in Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 have Reckless and Adaptability as their two standard Abilities. When a blue-striped Basculin with Reckless is transferred from Generation V to Generation VI, its Ability is changed to Rock Head.
 * Basculin shares its with . They are both known as the Hostile Pokémon.
 * Basculin's Pokédex entries in, X, and Omega Ruby describe the species as being very tasty, one of the rare instances that hint at Pokémon being used for food.

Origin
Basculin were most likely inspired by a or, the latter of which has historically been viewed as violent.

According to interviews with Ken Sugimori in Nintendo Dream, Basculin was created late in development when they realized there were few new 'standard' fish-like Pokémon in Unova, the only others being, , and. It was given two forms to make up for the small amount of fish in the region, and based on a bass since there are wild bass in New York state.

Name origin
Basculin is a combination of bass and masculine.

Bassrao may be a combination of bass and 丈夫 masurao (warrior, referring to its ) or バカラオ bakarao.