History Characters / SplatoonSalmonids

* TheApunkalypse: They have this as a theme, with their "hair" fashioned as mohawks and outfits made of leather and salvage.

* TheThunderdome: ''Splatoon 3'''s Fresh Season 2024 update introduced Bonerattle Arena, a massive battleground for salmonids built out of a prison where the Salmonids host battles to determine the toughest, most delicious among them. Salmonids are visible in the background spectating the match, as well as the voice of an announcer commentating between waves.

* LightningBruiser: It's the fastest of the Boss Salmonids, as its ink tunneling lets it bypass most obstacles to quickly get at your Inkling/Octoling. Getting caught in their attack is a guaranteed one-hit splat.

* LogicalWeakness: Weapons with long range are good at picking off the Smallfry without needing to climb their tower first. Blaster shots are also great at deleting multiple at a time, similar to how multiple Stinger pots can be blasted away in a single shot.

* CartoonThrobbing: Its weak point is a massive bump on its back. It's marked with an obvious bandaged X just in case it wasn't that obvious.

* EvilCounterpart: Their Ink Storms function nigh-identically to the Inkling version, with the missiles themselves hanging in the air before activating in a manner similar to Torpedoes.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Unlike the Octarians, who were established as morally grey even before being PromotedToPlayable, the lore makes no bones about the Salmonids being highly aggressive creatures with no compunctions about supping on delicious Inkling and Octoling flesh, [[OurOrcsAreDifferent making them the nearest thing the setting has to classic orcs]]. Even the highly intelligent Goldies can fall into a mindless, bloodthirsty frenzy under certain conditions. Though this is subverted in ''VideoGame/Splatoon3'', where it's shown that the player character gets a Smallfry companion that displays no animosity toward anyone or anything.
* AmbiguouslyEvil: The Salmonids are aggressive, known to ally with Octarians for weapons and technology, and have been associated with signs of the apocalypse by Inkling-kind, but their attack on Grizzco employees has a rather justifiable angle in that said parties are invading their territory and stealing their Golden Eggs -- made only more pronounced by the fact that, in-universe, their territories are openly known to be restricted waters and Inklings are ''not'' permitted legally to be there. That ''Splatoon 3'' shows friendships with Inklings and Octolings may be formed under particular circumstances only throws further scrutiny on the issue.

** With the Octarians no longer being antagonists, the Salmonids are filling this role for Inkopolis and Splatsville. The Salmonids are now actively invading the city's territories in order to take it for themselves as a response to the recent uptick in cephalopods joining Grizzco. In fact, [[https://splatoonwiki.org/wiki/File:Golden_egg_and_inklings_relic.png a mural located in Shellendorf Institute]] strongly implies that Inklings have been harvesting Golden Eggs since ancient times.

* ColorMotif: They're associated with the color green. Their "ink" color is a dark, venomous-looking green, which influences the color of the rest of their equipment. The waters they inhabit are tinted green as well, and whenever Salmonid inhabited buildings are shown in a stage, their insides are lit up with green light.

** Octarians are an EvilCounterpartRace to the Inklings, with members of their species outright sharing the same abilities. This commonality eventually allows the hatchet to be buried, and the two races to live in peace. By contrast, the Salmonids are distinctly different from both races, and it is unlikely that there will be any widespread peace between them and the cephalopods anywhere in the future.
** The Octarians' grudge with Inklings is a fairly recent and unusual development, on the grand scope of the setting; the Great Turf War was only a century before ''Splatoon 1'', and outside Inkadia where the war happened, the two races get along decently enough. The Salmonids have been terrorizing cephalopod-kind for at least as long as they have written history, and are known as a threat to civilization across Inkadia and the Splatlands.
* ClownCarBase: Gushers aren't very large, but lesser Salmonids can practically flow out of them during Goldie Seeking waves. Sure, maybe they're connected to some kind of sewer that supplies them, but during Big Runs they're capable of deploying the absolutely massive Grillers and Slammin' Lids that dwarf their size.

* InsurmountableWaistHeightFence: Most of the Salmonids are incapable of climbing walls or even short ledges. The only ones who can bypass them are Maws, who can swim up walls; Drizzlers and Flipper-Floppers, who can jump; and Flyfish and Slammin' Lids, who can fly. The basic Salmonid {{Mooks}} can jump, but only straight up in order to hit squids that are hiding on walls, and even that won't work if the Inkling is moving left and right repeatedly.

** Possibly downplayed, but the [[AllThereInTheManual Salmon Run field guide]] points out that some of the more advanced gear that the Salmonid use are acquired through a trade deal with the Octarians, which are exchanged in return for Salmonid eggs to use as a power supply. Of course, this doesn't stop them from trying to kill any Octoling employed under Mr. Grizz, so this business may be purely transactional.

** In addition to the detailed First Nations-inspired stencils seen in other maps, the Lost Outpost map is covered in child-like doodles of Steel Eel, Smallfry, and bizarre depictions of Inklings. This implies that not only are Salmonids capable of expressing themselves creatively but that the wall art seen in other stages is painted by Salmonids as well.

** Fog, which drastically reduces visibility. The Salmonids will change their behaviour to take advantage of this, attacking from all around rather than in groups at certain locations. Goldies will spawn during these waves and can drop far more eggs than normal, incentivizing players to find them (but it's also a really bad idea to get separated during these waves).
** "Griller" waves, where the only Salmonids that spawn are Grillers and Smallfry. Grillers are extremely tough and fast and drop a huge amount of ink on the ground, and late into the wave two Grillers will appear at the same time.

* SchizoTech: Salmonid technology is pretty all over the place in terms of how advanced it is. Salmonid troops wielding frying pans and plastic spoons are often deployed from flying saucers with force-field technology. Vehicles cobbled together from garbage fight alongside flying ships with advanced missile targeting systems. Their dedicated war band plays music from a stage made out of cobbled-together speakers while the DJ uses a [[https://splatoonwiki.org/wiki/File:SalmonDJ.jpg Salmon brand laptop]] to sample sounds from. At least some of the more advanced technology was acquired from the Octarians (as noted in the Salmonid Field Guide), so this discrepancy is Justified.

* TheThunderdome: ''Splatoon 3'''s Fresh Season 2024 update introduced Bonerattle Arena, a massive battleground for salmonids built out of a prison where the salmonids host battles to determine the toughest, most delicious among them. Salmonids are visible in the background spectating the match, as well as the voice of an announcer commentating between waves.

* HarmlessEnemy: Are the only Salmonid type that will never attack the player.

* KungFuProofMook: Many of the boss Salmonid have ink-repellent armor, some notable examples being the Steelhead, the Flyfish, and Grillers; however, certain Specials such as the Sting Ray, Killer Wail 5.1, and Kraken Royale are able to pierce this armor to dispatch these bosses before they are normally vulnerable.[[note]] The Booyah Bomb, Triple Inkstrike, and Reefslider are the other Specials capable of piercing, although the Reefslider can only pierce during its rush forward.[[/note]] The rare Grizzco Slosher & Grizzco Splatana can also pierce through armor, though the Splatana needs a full-charge slash to do the job.

* AttackItsWeakPoint: Target the drool bomb being filled above its head to defeat it. If it isn't inked enough, the bomb will be tossed, but any existing damage will carry over to the next one.

* AchillesHeel: The cockpit is mostly immune to direct attack, but it is vulnerable to certain [[ArmorPiercingAttack Armor-Piercing Attacks]]; namely the Grizzco Slosher, the Stingray in ''Splatoon 2'', and the Killer Wail 5.1, Booyah Bomb, and Triple Inkstrike in ''Splatoon 3''.

* EliteMooks: The Salmonid Field Guide states that "only the most elite Smallfry are selected to undergo the special training to become Flyfish pilots." And it shows: they're the only Boss Salmond that is maintained by a single Smallfry.

* GuideDangIt: It's not explained that the rocket pods that Flyfish use are ColorCodedForYourConvenience. The red pod on its left side (viewer's right side) will always target whoever's closest; the blue pod on the opposite side targets a random player who isn't the closest to it. If you're focusing down a Flyfish alone, there are other threats hounding you down, and you only have enough ink to destroy one pod, it's usually best to destroy the red pod first and hope the blue pod targets someone who isn't busy.

** For regular Splat Bombs, rolling the bomb onto a ledge where the Flyfish is parked close to will destroy both pods at once. It can also be done if a Slammin Lid happens to be parked nearby, tossing the bomb into the shield will detonate it instantly and destroy the Flyfish.
** For other weapons, specifically Crab Tank and Ink Jet, the Explosher, and the Cohock Cannon, a well-aimed shot in between the open lids of the missile pods will knock both of them out at once.

* ArbitraryWeaponRange: Enemy version rather than player version: you always want to stay a mid-range distance away from a Drizzler. Its torpedos travel a certain horizontal distance every time, so staying that distance away from it will ensure that the torpedo is between you and it and secure an easier instant splat.

* IWorkAlone: According to the field guide, Drizzlers are renegade Salmonids who prefer to go it alone and fight on their own terms. Fittingly enough, it places no priority on working with other Salmonids and doesn't follow a set path. That said, its choice of weapon ends up making it more of a [[{{Irony}} supporter in the long run.]]

* EvilCounterpart: Wields the Salmonid version of ''Splatoon 2''[='s=] Sting Ray (which itself has been succeeded by ''Splatoon 3''[='s=] Killer Wail 5.1.).

* LogicalWeakness: Weapons with a fast firing rate can knock out Stingers' tower of pots fairly quickly. The only weapons that are better at splatting Stingers than them are Blasters and the Explosher, which can OneHitKill them with a carefully aimed shot that eliminates the entire tower in one hit.
* LongRangeFighter: As snipers, Stingers prefer fighting at a distance, and indeed they prioritize targeting the furthest Inkling or Octoling from their position. They can target any player anywhere on the stage. As a result, they can be a frustrating enemy to deal with, especially if there's a bunch of other Salmonids in the way between you and the Stinger, or if there's at least one at each end of the stage, meaning that [[MortonsFork going after the one means being blasted by the other]]. Inversely, this also means they're far easier to deal with during High Tide, as they're forced to set up their position much closer to the basket and are much easier pickings for players to deal with before they become a potential problem, since they're ''always'' vulnerable to normal weaponry.

* {{Kevlard}}: It's big and bulky from what can be seen of its body, attempts to eat its victims, and it can soak up a lot of damage. You ''can'' defeat it by shooting it normally when it's out of the ground, but it's a waste of time when feeding it a splat bomb is easier and faster.

* AwesomeButImpractical: Despite its usefulness as a vantage point for Chargers and Splatlings, the pole is not fully safe from danger, as the small space can make you a perfect target for Maws, Stingers, or Flyfishes.

* AwesomeButImpractical: You can use the Big Shot cannon for yourself to fire Golden Eggs towards the egg basket. It's so useful that it's quite tempting to just stay near it and keep feeding it eggs... but the cannon is always near the shore, making it easy to get surrounded or pushed into the water, and the Eggs are only landing ''near'' the basket, not ''into it''. [[note]] Golden Eggs ''can'' sometimes land in the egg basket, but it's such a rare event that it should not be relied upon.[[/note]] Having someone stay by the cannon for too long alone usually results in them getting splatted far from the basket, and if everyone's at the cannon then nobody's securing the eggs into the basket and they're going to be stolen by Snatchers.

* FatBastard: The operator is noticeably overweight, and it's antagonistic towards inklings.

* DefeatEqualsExplosion: Destroying the crates causes them to explode in a small, but fairly strong burst of ink. This usually causes any cluster of coolers to be destroyed all at once, as well as damaging any salmonids nearby.
* DevelopersForesight: The Chinooks can technically damage the player like most of the other Salmonids, so they actually have a unique "Splatted by" message in the extremely rare scenario that the player dies to them. But between their passive battle strategy and them only being near the ground for a second, you would actively need to hurt yourself in order to see this.

* FreezeFrameBonus: If you look closely as the Mudmouth dies, you can spot the true appearance of the Salmonid leaping into the air for a split second. They actually look like [[https://twitter.com/DiamCreeper23/status/1582798397429276677 a disheveled Salmonid with uniquely bad dentistry]] underneath all of the muck.
* GoldColoredSuperiority: On occasion a Golden Mudmouth will appear. It spawns Cohocks instead of Chums and gives ten golden eggs instead of three.

* ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman: The Explosher's exploding ink bullets normally don't confer many benefits in most wave types (barring dealing with Flyfish), but it makes utter mincemeat of Mudmouths. Not only is it easy to aim at the Mudmouth's weak point, as it's a static target, but the piercing properties of the bullets will let it pass through enemies unobstructed where a splat bomb could end up bouncing away from the mouth because a Chum shoved it away. Not to mention that it's far faster and far more ink-efficient to shoot three Explosher shots than to throw three splat bombs. Leave Mudmouth killing to the player with the Explosher, and the rest can focus on splatting enemies and collecting the golden eggs.

* GenericDoomsdayVillain: {{Averted}}. They're a destructive force in the world, having felled many cities and devoured many creatures of the land, but it's just a side effect of their monthly migrations and the cities happening to be in the way. Their attacking of Grizzco workers is entirely justified, in fact, as you are invading their territories to steal their resources. Even ''Big Run'' can be interpreted as them actively retaliating against Inkling-kind by trying to take their territories for themselves in revenge for constantly stealing their Golden Eggs for five years straight.

** While "megalodontia" by itself is the condition of having oversized teeth, the word also contains "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalodon megalodon]]", that greatest of ancient sharks -- whose name itself means "big tooth".

* TombstoneTeeth: All Salmonids have rectangular teeth, even when they're crooked and worn out. This trait is unusual for these salmon descendants as salmon's teeth are sharp fangs, but it does create a very unsettling, ghoul-esque appearance.

* AntiFrustrationFeatures: Unlike, say, the Cohozuna, golden eggs caught in its radius when it attacks simply get knocked somewhere nearby instead of being made inaccessible from overlapping with its model.

** Chum, Cohocks, and Goldies are Zombies, which do nothing but simply slowly pursue players in melee. Each one has more health.

* ItCanThink: And each Salmonid varies in levels of intelligence.

* {{Motif}}: Food and cookware. Salmonids view being delicious as a thing to be proud of, and adorn or design their weaponry with or after cooking implements. Salmonid mooks battle with frying pans and plastic spoons. Boss Salmonids like Scrappers and Stingers are made out of cobbled-together cookware. Grillers are giant grills piloted by Salmonids who cook themselves alive inside of it. And they also surround their territories (the Salmon Run stages) with gigantic effigies of various food stuffs, such as french fries, sushi, and fruit.
* NonMammalianHair: They have hair despite being fish, and coming in a wide variety of styles and colors (most commonly in red and mohawks.) They appear to be modified dorsal fins.

** "Griller" waves, where the only Salmonids that spawn are Grillers and Smallfry. Grillers are extremely tough, fast, and drop a huge amount of ink on the ground, and late into the wave two Grillers will appear at the same time.

** Tornadoes will sometimes occur during low tide events, and will cause Salmonids and boxes filled with Golden Eggs to rain down from above at random. The second egg basket that normally occurs on the shoreline at low tide is covered by a huge boulder, forcing players to go all the way back to the normal basket. To compensate, Mr. Grizz will count each egg you collect as two eggs and Snatchers will not spawn.
** Periodically, an "Xtrawave" may occur after the third wave depending on how many shifts each member of the team have attempted. Each attempted shift gradually marks each player's "smell," (represented by the Salmometer in the Grizzco lobby), eventually summoning an incredibly powerful King Salmonid. Unlike previous waves, the purpose here is to slay the beast rather than fill the egg quota.
* RockBeatsLaser: While they haven't actually fought against one another, general rule of thumb is that for whatever high-tech machine the Octarians employ, a janky, scrapped-together Salmonid equivalent is superior. For example, just compare the Missile Octocopter to the Flyfish: both are FlyingMook {{Evil Counterpart}}s to Tenta Missiles, but the former is fairly easy to take out when confronted, while the latter is heavily armored to the point of being borderline invulnerable and can ordinarily only be defeated by precisely throwing ink-hungry Splat Bombs into its launchers. A part of this disparity might be from how the Salmonids have a monopoly on the much more powerful Golden Eggs, rather than the normal Power Eggs the Octarians use.

** Steel Eels are Shields, bearing a long, snake-like machine that blocks shots from the front, and is vulnerable in the back. They're also Pyros, since their machines' head threatens to OneHitKill if it crushes players against walls, flushing them out of tight spaces.

** Fish Sticks are Turrets: stationary once they install, but rather than shooting players, it shoots the ground, inking it in enemy colors and making it hard to deal with everything else.

* SchizoTech: Salmonid technology is pretty all over the place in terms of how advanced it is. Salmonid troops wielding frying pans and plastic spoons are often deployed from flying saucers with force-field technology. Vehicles cobbled together from garbage fight alongside flying ships with advanced missile targeting systems. Their dedicated war band plays music from a stage made out of cobbled together speakers while the DJ uses a [[https://splatoonwiki.org/wiki/File:SalmonDJ.jpg Salmon brand laptop]] to sample sounds from. At least some of the more advanced technology was acquired from the Octarians (as noted in the Salmonid Field Guide), so this discrepancy is Justified.
* SignsOfTheEndTimes: At least one major Inkling religion sees Salmonids as harbingers of the apocalypse, with a ''Splatoon 2'' Sunken Scroll featuring an illustration of a religous text depicting two Inklings attempting to flee from a Salmonid horde as seven rings open up in the clouds. ''Splatoon 3'' features this event in motion as "[[ApocalypseHow Big Run]]", seven rings included.

* TheThunderdome: ''Splatoon 3'''s Fresh Season 2024 update introduced Bonerattle Arena, a massive battleground for salmonids built out of a prison where the salmonids host battles to the determine the toughest, most delicious among them. Salmonids are visible in the background spectating the match, as well as the voice of an announcer commentating between waves.

* WeaponizedOffspring: Smallfry are obviously just Salmonid babies. It's also PlayedWith in that you're the one weaponizing their offspring right back at them, if a King Salmonid appears and Mr. Grizz authorizes use of the egg cannons.

** Any Roller's rolling mode can oneshot Smallfry, all except Carbon Rollers can oneshot both Smallfry and Chums, and the Dynamo roller can do it to Cohocks as well. You don't even have to move that much, the simple act of walking into the roller will splat the Salmonids out of existence. It's especially useful during a "Rush" wave, where the Chum, already weaker than normal, are more than happy to run face first into you in their mad rush for whoever is covered in glowflies.

** The cannons deployed during a "Cohock Charge" wave are powerful enough to splat multiple cohocks and most Boss Salmonids in one shot, which is a necessity since they spawn in such large numbers here.
* OneHitPolykill: Charger users can snipe through a line of lesser Salmonids to take out a small chunk in one blast. Bamboozlers loses out on this bonus due to its faster charge time, as does the Snipewriters since they gets five shots on a single charge.

* BanditMook: Their ''only'' role is to attempt to retrieve any Golden Eggs that are laying on the ground, and they will continue spawning until all the eggs are claimed. In normal waves, a single Snatcher will spawn to collect all the Golden Eggs of one killed boss; during special events, a Snatcher will spawn for ''each egg''.

Besides the endless swarm of Splattershot fodder, a Salmonid horde also includes plenty of much tougher fish; some have simply grown to great size and strength, while others instead pilot highly-advanced war machines.

* BossWarningSiren: A siren is blared every time a Boss Salmonid spawns. Every. Single. Time. Be prepared to hear it ''a lot'' on the higher difficulty levels, where they spawn at a per second rate.

* GuideDangIt: Boss Salmonids will continuously spawn throughout a wave, replacing their felled brethren as you splat them. Until the 28 second mark, that is, in which case they will cease to spawn. This is explained exactly nowhere, and is a bit hard to notice in the middle of the chaos of your average work day. Take advantage of this opening by splatting some of the more dangerous Boss Salmonids like Flyfish, as they will no longer be replaced beyond this point.

* KungFuProofMook: Many of the boss Salmonid have ink-repellent armor, some notable examples being the Steelhead, the Flyfish, and Grillers; however, certain Specials such as the Sting Ray, Killer Wail 5.1, and Kraken Royale are able to pierce this armor to dispatch these bosses before they are normally vulnerable.[[note]] The Booyah Bomb, Triple Inkstrike, and Reefslider are the other Specials capable of piercing, although the Reefslider can only pierce during its rush forward.[[/note]] The rare Grizzco Slosher & Grizzco Splatana can also pierce through armor, though the Splatana needs a full charge slash to do the job.

* NoticeThis: Several Boss Salmonids have effects like reticles, particles and sounds to their attacks that are meant to make them identifiable in the middle of the chaos of a Salmon Run.

** On the other side of the spectrum, a well-aimed Charger (except for the Bamboozler), Flingza Roller, or Dynamo Roller aimed at the Steelhead's bomb as it forms will bring it down in one go, [[DefeatEqualsExplosion as well as any Salmonids around it]]. Steel Eel drivers will fall instantly to a fully charged E-Liter 4K or a close-range horizontal swing from the Flingza or Dynamo Rollers. Blasters with wider radiuses aimed at the center of a Stinger can knock off every segment at once, as can a Splashdown if in a close enough vicinity. Maws instantly explode if they consume a Splat Bomb, and Drizzlers are one-shotted by successfully knocking their Ink Storm bomb right back at them. A well aimed shot from a Rapid Blaster or Range Blaster at a Fish Stick that is still airborn can get all of them at once and knock the stick out of the air. Throwing a Grizzco Slosher round at the Flyfish's cockpit will kill the pilot and destroy the vessel from the inside out. A fully charged Grizzco Splatana can kill any Boss Salmonid that isn't made up of multiple targets, armor be damned.

* EvilCounterpart: Their attack was originally just the rough Salmonid equivalent to the thrown sub weapon bombs, but have retroactively become a much more direct counterpart to the Booyah Bomb; both involve charging up an ink bomb (during which the wielder is vulnerable to attack) before lobbing it, with the resulting explosion only occuring after a short delay.

* LogicalWeakness: Mr. Grizz advises that longer-ranged weapons are better at taking out the Steelhead's bomb weakpoint. Of them, Chargers are usually the best, since careful aiming and charging ahead of time will always explode them before they can throw a single bomb.

** For other weapons, specifically Crab Tank and Ink Jet, the Explosher and the Cohock Cannon, a well aimed shot in between the open lids of the missile pods will knock both of them out at once.

* AttackTheTail: This Boss Salmonid is a large, invulnerable mechanical eel that constantly drips ink, with the "driver" Salmonid at the very tip of its tail being the vulnerable weakpoint.

* LastDitchMove: When the driver of a Steel Eel is splatted, the "head" still lives for about an extra second afterwards, allowing it to get one more lick in (or splat an unsuspecting victim) before it's fully demolished.

* TennisBoss: The easiest way to deal with a Drizzler is to shoot its balloon straight back at it, which will both stop the Ink Storm from pressuring your team, and OneHitKill the Drizzler even if it hides under its armor again. You're encouraged to do this since it has one of the higher health pools of all Boss Salmonids, always aims in the direction of a player, and can easily take back any turf inked in your team's color.

* AnimeHair: They have a green, lightning bolt shaped mohawk.

* LogicalWeakness: Weapons with a fast firing rate can knock out Stingers' tower of pots fairly quickly. The only weapons that are better at splatting Stingers than them are Blasters and the Explosher, which can OneHitKill them with a carefully-aimed shot that eliminates the entire tower in one hit.
* LongRangeFighter: As snipers, Stingers prefer fighting at a distance, and indeed they prioritize targeting the furthest Inkling or Octoling from their position. They can target any player anywhere on the stage. As a result they can be a frustrating enemy to deal with, especially if there's a bunch of other Salmonids in the way between you and the Stinger, or if there's at least one at each end of the stage, meaning that [[MortonsFork going after the one means being blasted by the other]]. Inversely, this also means they're far easier to deal with during High Tide, as they're forced to set up their position much closer to the basket and are much easier pickings for players to deal with before they become a potential problem, since they're ''always'' vulnerable to normal weaponry.

* BigEater: It's sole method of attack is eating things, and it has to do this constantly in order to keep itself sustained.

* EvilCounterpart: Maws don't take after any particular sub-weapon or special from the other modes, insteead being a counterpart to the Octarian's Octomaw.

* PsychoPink: They're ravenous and dangerous Salmonids who will make a beeline for you in order to chomp down on you, and they're pink in color, in contrast to its grayish colored brethren.

* {{Wormsign}}: The only sign of an approaching Maws is a fishing lure moving across the ground. In Japan, Maws is known as "Mogura", mole, which suggests it's actually tunneling through the ink.

* AwesomeButImpractical: Despite its usefulness as a vantage point for Chargers and Splatlings, the pole is not fully safe from danger, as the small space can make you a perfect target for Maws, Stingers or Flyfishes.
* CherryTapping: Like the Sprinkler sub weapon, the Fish Stick's bullets deal very little damage, and they're very small, too, which makes it less likely for them to hit you. Under normal circumstances, this is not enough to splat you on its own, but running into it after a run in with other Salmonids, coupled with some bad luck, [[https://cdn.wikimg.net/en/splatoonwiki/images/b/b0/S3_Splatted_by_Fish_Stick.jpg can do you in if you're not careful]].

* DifficultButAwesome: Destroying the Fish Stick in mid-air. Few weapons have the range necessary to perform such an act, and hitting all of the smallfry before they drill the Fish Stick into the ground is dificult enough.[[note]]Long ranged blasters are the best weapons for the job, as the smallfry are clustered closely together during flight, so shooting right into the center of the group will get rid of them all [[/note]] Succeed, however, and you'll be able to get rid of the Fish Stick far faster than having to wait for it to plant itself and start its ink-spraying ditty.

* MookPromotion: Fish Stick Smallfry that show off excellent lung capacity have a chance at getting promoted to Stingers. Their design shows that they're well on their way of growing into them, as they have the same slit pupils and lightning bolt shaped hairstyle under their helmets that Stingers have.

* SupportPartyMember: Fish Sticks don't directly attack players. They simply stick themselves in a spot on the map and behave like a Sprinkler, covering their area in ink and impeding the movement of any Grizzco workers underneath, making them easy pickings for other Salmonids who are on their tail. By itself a Fish Stick can be even more swiftly and easily dealt with than any other Boss Salmonid, but with company they can be quite the nuisance. They're also especially annoying during Cohock Charge, as their placement can cause them to block cannon shots should they manage to plant themselves.

* CoolButInefficient: Their info card states that they're more concerned about looking graceful in their act than they are actually being effective in combat. You can even see this in its design, as it's actually flying sideways so that its tail looks like a dolphins, and wears its mask so that it looks like its on straight when in reality its only able to see through one of the eyeholes.

* PortalSlam: In effect what happens when the circle it casts gets completely inked. Instead of diving in, it'll slam nose first into the ground, shattering its gear off and flopping helplessly until it regains its composure.

* AnimeHair: What looks like a bowl shaped helmet is actually their hair cut in a very impressive bowl cut.

* FlyingSaucer: Its design and behavior references the stereotypical UFO, as it flies onto the field and beams down Salmonids like an alien invasion.

* NoFairCheating: If you attempt to stay on it after it rises up (a position immune to most Salmonids), the pilot will eventually pull out a large ladle and perform a 360 degree attack, knocking you off.

* LongRangeFighter: Big Shots spawn at the shoreline and fire their cannonballs all the way towards the egg basket. It's also a Big Shot operator's sole way to fight; it cannot defend itself if Inklings get up close.

* ShockwaveStomp: The biggest danger of its cannonballs is that they'll release radiating shock-waves on the ground when they land.

* AIBreaker: Glowfly-enraged Goldies share the same weakness as the Grillers; jumping between ledges. The Goldies and their Chum entourage will follow a set path to reach the currently glowfly swarmed Inkfish, so hopping between ledges will make them backtrack to reach you, buying time for your teammates to collect the Golden Eggs. It's not as effective on them as it is on Grillers, however, thanks to their massive speed, ability to approach from multiple directions, and the fact the glowflies will change targets once in a while.

* MetalSlime: Subverted. Only one in 10,000 Salmonid hatchlings can become Goldies according to the Salmonid Field Guide, but they spawn with decent frequency in their dedicated night waves. Of which there are ''three''. Fog, Goldie Seeking and Rush. They will also drop more Golden Eggs than regular Salmonids, except during Rush waves.

* LogicalWeakness: Long range weapons like chargers and splatlings are incredibly useful in a Mothership wave, as they are capable of splatting Chinooks from much further away, and can therefore splat them more efficiently than other weapons. With the proper elevation, they can even splat them as they come out of the Mothership when it comes down to steal from the Egg Basket, which can result in plenty of Golden Eggs landing right near it for easy collection.
* MookMaker: The Mothership continuously spawns Chinooks carrying coolers which spawn Salmonids if you allow them to be set down; the coolers can be destroyed to explosive effect, and doing so while the Chinook is still carrying it will take it out and drop a single Golden Egg. The Mothership is also immune to damage until it comes in to steal your eggs, and downing it the second time when it comes down at the 30-seconds-left mark knocks it back into the water.

* DualBoss: After a couple seconds, players will have to deal with two Grillers at a time. Mr. Grizz will publicly announce when the second Griller appears to join the action.
* EffectiveKnockoff: Appear to be the Salmonid counterpart to the Octarian army's Flooders, which have a similar appearance, hardiness, lethality, and function. Unlike Flooders, these can be destroyed, but are also faster, cannot be ridden on, and are always aware of their targets position, chasing relentlessly after whoever they have in their sights.

* RetractableAppendages: Think you can block a Griller's path by stunning the one in front of it? Think again. If Grillers get in each others way, one will simply retract its wheels to lower itself to the ground, allowing the other to pass over them.

* LightIsNotGood: They're little lightbugs that surround you when its dark. Pray that that changes.
* MarkedToDie: Their mechanic. When glowflies surround you, the entire horde will rush towards you specifically, intent on splatting you. They'll still hurt anything that's in their way, but you're the main target. This only lasts for a few seconds, though, as they will eventually change targets.
* NeverSplitTheParty: You should almost never split the party when these things are around. Anyone who doesn't have a full team's worth of firepower in their immediate presence ''will'' get splatted if glowflies follow them, which then spells doom for everyone else who's still standing. Scrambling the team is only to be used as a last-ditch strategy when the hordes can't be fought regardless of if you can stand your ground or not, and you only need to delay the inevitable just enough for the wave timer to count out.
* NoSell: Glowflies induce a berserker state on all Chum. All except for Snatchers, who are completely unaffected by the sight of the lightbugs and go about their egg collecting duties as normal.

** The rollers' rolling mode is typically only used to spread paint around and not for splatting, but it is perfect for handling Rush waves, when Chums' health is reduced just enough for every roller to OneHitKill with crushing. The Dynamo Roller -- which generally leaves players wanting in every other wave scenario -- is basically tailor-made to handle Glowflies, as its insane rolling damage will weaken Goldies enough to the point of them being easy splats for an ally to finish off.

* ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman: The Explosher's exploding ink bullets normally doesn't confer it many benefits in most wave types (barring dealing with Flyfish), but it makes utter mincemeat of Mudmouths. Not only is it easy to aim at the Mudmouth's weakpoint, as it's a static target, but the piercing properties of the bullets will let it pass through enemies unobstructed where a splat bomb could end up bouncing away from the mouth because a Chum shoved it away. Not to mention that it's far faster and far more ink-efficient to shoot three Explosher shots than to throw three splat bombs. Leave Mudmouth killing to the player with the Explosher, and the rest can focus on splatting enemies and collecting the golden eggs.

* AntiFrustrationFeatures: They have a massive amount of health to wittle down during the 100 seconds you have to defeat them, requiring the entire crew to work together. If someone disconnects during the Xtrawave, however, the King Salmonid will lose a chunk of health to compensate for the loss in firepower.

** Horrorboros is the Thin, possesing an eel like frame.

** The Horrorboros is one to the Steelheads, at least mechanics-wise. It uses a modified version of the Steelheads' drool-bomb maker to launch gigantic Booyah Bomb-like blasts at the player. It also resembles the Steel Eels in terms of body shape, and it has the Stinger's distinct lightning bolt shaped hair.
** The Megalodontia is a Maws of titanic proportions. It behaves the exact same way, targeting a player to swallow them and becoming vulnerable when they surface. No bomb feeding, though, just a big sore for a weakspot. Its ability to instantly splat Boss Salmonids with its attack also brings Slammin' Lids to mind, while having a weak spot on its back is reminiscent of the Scrappers.

* BoringButPractical: Compared to its fellow King's, one a flying dragon that lobs explosive blasts, the other a titanic fish capable of covering up entire sections of a stage while swalloning squids whole, the Cohozuna is fairly basic, but very effective. It is essentialy a super-sized Lesser Salmonid that body slams and occasionaly ground pounds, and it has no special strategy to it other than "[[VideoGame/{{Doom}} shoot at it until it dies]]", but it remains as much of a threat as the bigger fish.

* DamageSpongeBoss: Unlike all of the story mode bosses, and its fellow kings Horrorboros and Megalodontia, there's no "weak point" to focus on here, it just has a ridiculous amount of health. Mr. Grizz will even supply you with a special weapon that does extra damage to it when the Cohozuna appears, because it's otherwise nearly impossible to kill it within the timeframe.

* MadeOfIron: Has a huge amount of health, and takes hardly any damage from most main or sub weapons. Special weapons fair a little better, but the main sources of damage you’ll deal to them is through using the Egg Cannon and the rare weapons that can put out tons of damage.

* AnimeHair: It bears the same lighting bolt shaped hairstyle as the Stinger's, only having them styled in two equal-length hair antennae instead of a mohawk.
* AntiFrustrationFeatures: It inherits the same feature the Steelheads have. If the bomb is deployed before it is destroyed, the damage dealt to it will carry over to the next bomb. It's especially useful here as Horrorboros' bombs are tankier than a Steelheads.

* DamageSpongeBoss: Subverted. Horrorboros is tankier than Cohozuna by a wide margin, with 55,000 maximum HP to the Cohozuna's 40,000. However, unlike it's smaller, chubbier fellow king, Horrorboros has a weak point that can be exploited to cause massive damage, and with proper aim and teamwork, it can actually be faster to down it in practice.
* DragonsAreDemonic: Despite the resemblance to the normally-benevolent Chinese dragons, it is still a monstrous mutant fish that has the same bloodlust towards intruders like the other Salmonids.

* AntiFrustrationFeatures: Unlike with say, the Cohozuna, golden eggs caught in its radius when it attacks simply get knocked somewhere nearby instead of being made inaccessible from overlapping with its model.

* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: Stated to be the largest King Salmonid so far, which is saying something seeing how big Cohozuna and Horrorboros are. According to [[https://twitter.com/SplatoonNA/status/1725519162942914677 Splatoon NA Twitter]], its jaws alone are about 1.4 boats wide. [[Franchise/{{Jaws}} You're gonna need a bigger boat]], indeed! In battle, it's body takes up huge chunks of a stage and reaches quite far up. And do note, we only ever see ''half'' of its body at all times.

* SingleSpecimenSpecies: Unlike the other two King Salmonids, who Mr. Grizz refers to with generic terms (ex. "a Cohozuna), Megalodontia's name is used as a proper noun, implying that there's only one of them.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Unlike the Octarians, who were established as morally grey even before being PromotedToPlayable, the lore makes no bones about the Salmonids being highly aggressive creatures with no compunctions about supping on delicious Inkling and Octoling flesh, [[OurOrcsAreDifferent making them the nearest thing the setting has to classic orcs]]. Even the highly intelligent Goldies can fall into a mindless, bloodthirsty frenzy under certain conditions. Though this is subverted in ''VideoGame/Splatoon3'', where it's shown that the player character gets a Smallfry companion that displays no animosity to anyone or anything.

** With the Octarians no longer being antagonists, the Salmonids are filling this role for Inkopolis and Splatsville. The Salmonids are now actively invading the cities territories in order to take it for themselves as a response to the recent uptick in cephalopods joining Grizzco. In fact, [[https://splatoonwiki.org/wiki/File:Golden_egg_and_inklings_relic.png a mural located in Shellendorf Institute]] strongly implies that Inklings have been harvesting Golden Eggs since ancient times.

* ColorMotif: They're associated with the color green. Their "ink" color is a dark, venomous looking green, which influences the color of the rest of their equipment. The waters they inhabit are tinted green as well, and whenever Salmonid inhabited buildings are shown in a stage, their insides are lit up with green light.

** Octarians are an EvilCounterpartRace to the Inklings, with members of their species outright sharing the same abilities. This commonality eventually allows the hatchet to be buried, and the two races to live in peace. By contrast, the Salmonids are distinctly different to both races, and it is unlikely that there will be any widespread peace between them and the cephalopods anywhere in the future.
** The Octarians' grudge with Inklings are a fairly recent and unusual development, on the grand scope of the setting; the Great Turf War was only a century before ''Splatoon 1'', and outside Inkadia where the war happened, the two races get along decently enough. The Salmonids have been terrorizing cephalopod-kind for at least as long as they have written history, and are known as a threat to civilization across Inkadia and the Splatlands.

** Mr. Grizz's business puts little doubt onto how sketchy it is, from the unclear purpose of the job's bounty to the arbitrary means by which he pays workers, placing him on the Evil side. The Salmonids have historically destroyed multiple fledgling societies and are prophesied to cause some form of apocalypse by ''Splatoon 2'''s Sunken Scrolls, putting them on the Oblivion side.

* FogOfDoom: One of the possible {{Random Event}}s. During fog waves, Salmonids use the reduced visibility to attack from all directions rather than in clumps. However, this is one of the only time the rare Goldies appear, which can drop up to ten Golden Eggs at once in fog waves.
* {{Foil}}: To the playable Inklings and Octolings. Inklings, and later Octolings, are bright and colorful, focused on having as much fun as they can and have a strong focus on individuality and self expression. The Salmonids, while not devoid of colour, are much darker in colors and personality, uniformly focused on their species' goal of Living Deliciously and dying for their cause, and according to supplemental materials, lack individual names.

** Many background structures in the maps are made by the Salmonids. Every map features several effigies of assorted food stuffs built on towers scattered around the area, and Jammin' Salmon Junction takes place near an interstate bridge remade into a massive concert venue, complete with giant horns scattered around the background.

** In addition to the detailed First Nations-inspired stencils seen in other maps, the Lost Outpost map is covered in child-like doodles of Steel Eel, Smallfry, and bizarre depictions of Inklings. This implies that not only are Salmonids capable of expressing themselves creatively but that the wall art seen in other stages are painted by Salmonids as well.

** Bonerattle Arena is another impressive Salmonid build, being a former penal colony transformed into a massive battle arena with impressive machinery in the background. Most importantly, you can hear announcer chatter in between waves that prove the Salmonids have their own spoken language.

* {{Motif}}: Food and cookware. Salmonids view being delicious as a thing to be proud of, and adorn or design their weaponry with or after cooking implements. Salmonid mooks battle with frying pans and plastic spoons. Boss Salmonids like Scrappers and Stingers are made out of cobbled together cookware. Grillers are giant grills piloted by Salmonids who cook themselves alive inside of it. And they also surround their territories (the Salmon Run stages) with gigantic effigies of various food stuffs, such as french fries, sushi, and fruit.

* VocalDissonance: For being such a titanic creature, it's "roaring" is more of a grating, high-pitched shriek.

* OneHitKill: While normally you need two splat bombs to blow up each missile pod, certain circumstances can allow you to blow up both at once:
** For regular splat bombs, rolling the bomb onto a ledge where the Flyfish is parked close to will destroy both pods at once. It can also be done if a Slammin Lid happens to be parked nearby, tossing the bomb into the shield will detonate it instantly and destroy the Flyfish.

* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: While the designs of ''Splatoon's'' marine life society oscillates between LittleBitBeastly and CivilizedAnimal, Salmonids land firmly in the latter area, being animalistic creatures with a complex society and culture. Grizzco, and seemingly Inkopolis overall, treat them as mindless animals that leave nothing but death and destruction in their wake, and show little restraint in invading their territories to steal their resources for themselves. Admittedly, it's not an unjustified stance given their role in causing the fall of many cities, but their trade deal with the Octarians, and New Agent Three's relationship with Little Buddy, shows that they ''can'' be reasoned with, to a degree.

** The cannons deployed during a "Cohock Charge" wave are powerful enough to splat multiple cohocks in one shot, which is a necessity since they spawn in such large numbers here.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/megalodontia_preview.jpg]]

[[Characters/SplatoonPlayableCharacters Playable Characters]] | [[Characters/SplatoonIdolGroups Idol Groups]] | [[Characters/SplatoonInkopolisAndSplatsville Inkopolis and Splatsville]] | [[Characters/SplatoonOctarians Octarians]] | '''Salmonids''' | [[Characters/SplatoonDeepseaMetro Deepsea Metro]] | [[Characters/SplatoonBands Bands]] | [[Characters/SplatoonMangaCharacters Manga Characters]]-]]]]]

* BoringButPractical: Compared to its fellow King's, one a flying dragon that lobs explosive blasts, the other a titanic fish capable of covering up entire sections of a stage while swalloning squids whole, the Cohozuna is fairly basic, but very effective. It is essentialy a super-sized Lesser Salmonid that body slams and occasionaly ground pounds, and it has no special strategy to it other than "shoot at it until it dies", but it remains as much of a threat as the bigger fish.

** The Megalodontia is a Maws of titanic proportions. It behaves the exact same way, targeting a player to swallow them and becoming vulnerable when they surface. No bomb feeding, though, just a big sore for a weakspot. Its ability to instantly splat Boss Salmonids with its attack also brings Slammin' Lids to mind.

* EvilCounterpart: They attack from above like a Splashdown-using Inkling/Octoling, and the rings they use to target their foes behave like Splatzones.

* EvilCounterpart: As noted above, most Boss Salmonids can be viewed as counterparts to certain Inkling weapons and abilities.

** On the other side of the spectrum, a well-aimed Charger (except for the Bamboozler), Flingza Roller, or Dynamo Roller aimed at the Steelhead's bomb as it forms will bring it down in one go, [[DefeatEqualsExplosion as well as any Salmonids around it]]. Steel Eel drivers will fall instantly to a fully charged E-Liter 4K or a close-range horizontal swing from the Flingza or Dynamo Rollers. Blasters with wider radiuses aimed at the center of a Stinger can knock off every segment at once, as can a Splashdown if in a close enough vicinity. Maws instantly explode if they consume a Splat Bomb, and Drizzlers are one-shotted by successfully knocking their Ink Storm bomb right back at them. Throwing a Grizzco Slosher round at the Flyfish's cockpit will kill the pilot and destroy the vessel from the inside out. A fully charged Grizzco Splatana can kill any Boss Salmonid that isn't made up of multiple targets, armor be damned.

* AwesomeButImpractical:
** The Fish Stick can't be destroyed once it's been planted, but it ''can'' if you shoot all of the Smallfry before they can land it. It'll fall to the ground and break apart, which looks cool... but you also lose out on a potential vantage point and/or escape route that you can use, not to mention it won't prevent more Fish Sticks from spawning to try and take its place.
** Despite its usefulness as a vantage point for Chargers and Splatlings, the pole is not fully safe from danger, as the small space can make you a perfect target for Maws, Stingers or Flyfishes.

* SupportPartyMember: Fish Sticks don't directly attack players. They simply stick themselves in a spot on the map and behave like a Sprinkler, covering their area in ink and impeding the movement of any Grizzco workers underneath, making them easy pickings for other Salmonids who are on their tail. By itself a Fish Stick can be even more swiftly and easily dealt with than any other Boss Salmonid, but with company they can be quite the nuisance.

* EvilCounterpart: While they lacked an obvious Inkling/Octoling counterpart in their debut, with the closest analogue being the mechanics of Ink Armor, they end up gaining one in ''Splatoon 3'' in the form of the Crab Tank, a heavily armored machine with an exposed back as a weak spot.

** The Cohozuna is like a gargantuan Cohock in name and appearance. It doesn't have any special gimmicks other than a Splashdown style ground pound, it simply chases you down like any lesser would.

** The Megalodontia is a Maws of titanic proportions. It behaves the exact same way, targeting a player to swallow them and becoming vulnerable when they surface. No bomb feeding, though, just a big sore for a weakspot.