In the TV show, Corsolas are often shown in social groups that join together to form large structures inhabited by other water Pokémon. Fittingly, Corsola is, therefore, a dual water- and rock-type Pokémon. Stony corals such as staghorn coral excrete calcium carbonate, also known as limestone, to form a hard exoskeleton that gives them their rocky appearance. (And yes, corals are colonial animals, not plants, so they're fair game for this list.) Staghorn corals are normally yellow, but they can also appear more pinkish, like Corsola. Corsola's design appears to be based on staghorn coral ( Acropora cervicornis), a species of stony coral with cylindrical branches similar to the water-shooting limbs on Corsola's back. However, leafy seadragons actually eat small crustaceans and fish larvae that they suck up through their long snouts and not seaweed.Ĭorsola was introduced in the Generation II games Gold and Silver and is a favorite of Ash's TV companion and the Pokémon region Kanto's in-game gym leader Misty. A 2021 study found that prolonged exposure to hydrogen sulfide can make local residents feel very unwell. This could be a reference to an ongoing problem in the Caribbean, where unusually large blooms of seaweed from the genus Sargassum float onto the shore and release a foul-smelling gas, hydrogen sulfide. In the games, it is revealed that Dragalge's poisonous nature is due to the Pokémon's diet of "toxic," rotten kelp. Unlike Dragalge, leafy seadragons are not poisonous.
These protrusions are actually flaps of skin and are used exclusively for camouflage, to make them look like pieces of floating seaweed. Leafy seadragons are found along the western and eastern coasts of Australia and are named after the leafy protrusions found across their bodies. Both Dragalge and its pre-evolution form, Skrelp, are likely based on the leafy seadragon ( Phycodurus eques), a marine fish in the family Syngnathidae, which also includes pipefish and seahorses. Dragalge is a leafy seadragonĭragalge is a dragon- and poison-type Pokémon that was first introduced in the Generation VI games, Pokémon X and Y. However, in an unusual twist, Butterfree is most likely based on a black-veined white butterfly ( Aporia crataegi) from the distantly related family Pieridae. Caterpie's head fork has a remarkably similar function that it uses to "drive away enemies," according to the Pokémon website.Ĭaterpie's evolutions, or the Pokémon it transforms into, also mimic the metamorphosis of caterpillars into butterflies: Caterpie evolves into Metapod, a living cocoon similar to those created by caterpillars, before quickly evolving into Butterfree, which is most definitely a butterfly. The osmeterium is a defensive organ found only in swallowtail larvae, which can emit a foul odor that repels small insects and spiders. The strange, fork-shaped protrusion, known as an osmeterium, on Caterpie's head is also found on the real-life caterpillars. Like Caterpie, swallowtail caterpillars have eye spots, or eye-like rings that are used to scare off birds.
The most remarkable similarity between Caterpie and the swallowtail caterpillars is its body shape Caterpie looks to have a cartoonishly large head, but the swallowtail caterpillars have a similarly massive noggin. However, the adorable green insect are likely based directly on the caterpillars of several swallowtail butterflies - a group of more than 500 tropical butterflies from the family Papilionidae - particularly the Asian swallowtail ( Papilio xuthus), spicebush swallowtail ( Papilio troilus) and eastern tiger swallowtail ( Papilio glaucus). To most people, Caterpie might seem like an odd pick for this list because it is obviously based on a caterpillar, as its name so clearly suggests.
Caterpie is a bug-type Pokémon that was also one of the original 151 entries in the franchise and one of the first Pokémon caught by protagonist Ash Ketchum in the first series of the TV show, which debuted in 1997.