Tentacruel Report

Tentacruel (the Jellyfish Pokémon) is a relatively rare Water/Poison-type Pokémon found among warm, shallow seas across the world. Feared for their impressive hunting abilities and nearly inescapable toxic tentacles, Tentacruel are exceptionally brutal beasts that will gladly poison, strangle and devour nearby life forms even if they are not that hungry. These massive jellyfish might not be the greatest fighters in physical brawls, but if you're not careful about staying far away from them, you'll find out too late exactly why these beasts are known as the "Gangster of the Sea"!

Although Tentacruel share many of the same characteristics with jellyfish that Tentacool share, they are far different in that they do not aimlessly drift among warm ocean currents and are in fact very active hunters. Although Tentacruel usually only reveal about 14 or so tentacles in and outside of battle, they actually have approximately 80 venom-tipped tentacles at peak growth, with some being lost to injury over time; the majority are only hidden because they are rarely all necessary to defeat opponents in battle and can actually provide more vulnerabilities than Tentacruel can handle. When hunting, however, Tentacruel will extend all of them at once in order to produce a living net of stinging tentacles that literally filters the ocean of any organic life forms; large outbreaks have been known to clear entire sections of the ocean of fish, leaving little more than barren wastelands until fish elsewhere can repopulate the area. Immediately after striking a creature with a toxic tentacle, a Tentacruel will quickly bring the creature up to its mouth and swallow it whole, relying on powerful digestive juices to break down the harder parts into a thick slurry. While this means that a single Tentacruel can effectively attack and devour up to 80 individuals in a single attack, it equally means that creatures even larger than Tentacruel can be immobilized and contained within their tentacles; in such cases, Tentacruel will usually use the two large appendages attached to their lower bodies to anchor themselves onto their prey before slowly strangling it to death with their powerful Wring Out attack. Worse yet, Tentacruel can actually increase the elasticity of their tentacles by absorbing large quantities of water, stretching them to almost infinitely long lengths if needed to encapsulate large prey or gather prey deep below their present location. In some cases, Tentacruel can even inject the venom contained within their tentacles into the surrounding water to produce toxic slurries of viscous liquid; this makes Tentacruel (along with Tentacool and the members of the Grimer family) one of the few Pokémon able to learn the devastating Sludge Wave attack naturally.

As with Tentacool, Tentacruel see vision through two different spectrums: the color spectrum through their primary white eyes and the thermal spectrum through their secondary red eyes. In addition, they can also focus light in the backs of their crystal-like red eyes before firing it in the form of a relatively potent photon beam capable of tearing through hard surfaces (like building walls) without much difficulty. More importantly, however, these red eyes are used by Tentacruel as a form of communication among other Tentacruel and Tentacool. Since the eyes themselves can focus sunlight and thus give off considerable amounts of heat, Tentacruel can flash their eyes repeatedly to relay important messages to any other creatures that can clearly see the thermal spectrum and interpret it. While these flashes might not look very spectacular from our eyes, in the thermal spectrum, the sheer variety of messages that these creatures are capable of conveying is simply astonishing, ranging anywhere from signals that indicate where prey is plentiful or if there is danger approaching (generally indicated by a very rapid series of flashes) to different signals that express particular emotional states. The actual focusing power of their red eyes is also more advanced than those of Tentacool and is not limited to light alone, as they are able to use them to propagate potent blasts of ultrasonic noise capable of weakening and inducing Confusion among prey and opponents alike both above and below the waves (though they are usually easier to spot in the water because they violently churn the water surrounding a Tentacruel when fired and are signaled initially by a glow from their red eyes) before ensnaring them with their tentacles, and can even utilize the rare Reflect Type technique in battle (which is inaccessible to Tentacool). It is also interesting to note that Tentacruel are somehow able to utilize the powerful Hex attack in battle (as can Tentacool, though it is usually quite rare to see a Tentacool wait past evolution to learn it) and are among the only non-Ghost-type Pokémon (along with Tentacool and Vulpix) able to do so; research is still being conducted to understand how they are able to do so, though it's actual effectiveness in battle in combination with their poisonous powers is more than apparent.

While they might not be quite as versatile as some trainers would like, Tentacruel are nonetheless exceptionally dangerous beasts that any sea-faring trainer should be careful of and fear with a passion. With powerful special defenses other Poison-types can only dream about and a mean-streak that is only limited by how far they can reach, you can definitely be sure that any Swimmer or Water-type specialist looking to add a little bit of toxicity to their battle strategies will gladly take the time to seek out one of these strange jellyfish. Just be careful not to get too close to them during feeding time and never for a second think that you are automatically safe on dry land; Tentacruel might not be able to go onto land for more than an hour or two before drying up, but that certainly doesn't mean that they won't do their best to grab whatever food they can in the mean-time, including yourself!

Professor Wormwood