Molecular analysis does not actually support the traditional notion of three (now two) full subspecies of Basculin, merely a difference in coloration and fin shape, controlled by a single gene – one of which is ubiquitous in Hisuian depictions, while the other two continue to battle it out for supremacy in Unova. White-striped or Hisuian Basculin appear to be the original form, but white has never been thought of as an especially brilliant color, and is even less of one when viewed against Hisui's snowy background; sportsmen and aquaculturalists looking for Basculin to introduce abroad inevitably picked rarer color variations.
But while Basculin are the same everywhere save for a single stripe and a couple other features, the same can not be said of their behaviors. Unovan Basculin come with all the dangers of introduced species, and have become apex predators of their local oceans. With no other species to serve as a rival, they spend their energies in internecine fighting between families and schools, treating a different stripe as akin to an enemy flag. But Hisuian Basculin are but one fish species among many, known for adopting orphaned Basculin and ferociously protecting even strangers; the loyalty and cooperation which finds its full expression after death in the Basculegion is amply attested in their lives.
White-striped Basculin are left increasingly rare by human industry, which destroyed through pollution what generations of brave fishermen could not. Environmentalists have bandied about the idea of re-importing Basculin from Unova to restore the population of this keystone species, but the local population still fears both losing the distinctive white stripe, and that the aggressive behaviors seen in Unova will return to Sinnoh with them – besides, if they were to evolve, a red, white, and blue Basculegion could only be described as terrifying.