Clamperl (Huntail, Gorebyss)
Aequor acritesta gigas
Overview
Coral reefs are typically associated with brightly lit warm waters. But not all reefs are found on the surface. The seamounts around Alola are home to many deep sea reefs, vibrant and biodiverse communities thriving well beyond the light's reach. Deep sea corals feed on tiny organisms drifting through the water currents. The reefs provide food and shelter for a diverse and poorly understood ecosystem. These corals tend to be soft. They often resemble trees or shrubs growing from the ocean floor.
Clamperl are bivalves that live near deep sea reefs. Most of their diet is composed of organisms they filter from the water. Would-be predators also make up a healthy portion of their diet.
Huntail and gorebyss are some of the dominant predators of the deep sea reefs. Even their hunting styles differ from those commonly found on land: huntail try to draw prey to them and gorebyss act more like parasites than hunters.
Just reaching clamperl's home requires either a very long fishing line or descending in a special suit designed for deep dives. As a result they are very expensive pokémon to obtain, whether or not you catch them yourself. Some collectors still find the pokémon to be worth it – especially because their pearls also sell for a high price.
Physiology
Clamperl are classified as pure water-types. Gorebyss and huntail have secondary psychic- and dark-typings, respectively. Gorebyss have increased psy-sensitivity over clamperl and use it to stun their prey in the wild. Huntail are all but immune to telepathy and often charge their bites with dark-type energy.
Clamperl are bivalves. Their main nervous system and most of their organs are contained in a small pink mass of flesh nestled in their shell. Clamperl's nervous system is surprisingly well-developed and can create bursts of psychic power. The byssus is the one major organ outside the main cluster. It is positioned at the rear of the pokémon and is used to create byssal fibers that help it latch on to the environment. Clamperl's shell is not quite as hard as that of a shellder, but the rim is very sharp. They can also close their shell with forces of up to 800 PSI. Like shellder they also sometimes get grains of sand stuck in their shell. These can be coated in layer after layer of body fluids until they become white pearls. The white pearls, unlike the pink 'pearl' composing clamperl's body, can be removed without hurting the organism.
Huntail are long blue snake-like pokémon. Their dorsal fin is very long and connected to their caudal and anal fins. Huntail have large heads with massive jaws full of needle-like teeth. They can bite with similar forces to clamperl. Their skeleton is very durable to deal with the pressures of their home. Huntail have brown skin but their body is coated in a layer of blue mucus to deter predators. As deep sea fish huntail have a greatly atrophied sense of sight. The only well-developed sense they have is that of smell.
Great senses are not necessary for their survival. Huntail can light up the tip of their tail and wiggle it around. This resembles a small fish in motion. Their prey come to them. They have no need to hone the keen senses or high speeds of more conventional predators.
Gorebyss have vibrant pink skin with red, purple, and white patterns running across it. Their skin is very thick to withstand the pressures they live at. This also makes them very durable. Gorebyss have long, thin mouths with dozens of tiny, needle-like teeth at the end. Two antennae, one on top of the head and one on bottom, amplify their psychic abilities. A circular tail fin rests at the tip of their slender body. Gorebyss are capable of much faster movement speeds than huntail, but they can still only swim at about twelve miles per hour.
Clamperl can grow to be thirty inches across and can weigh up to eight pounds. Huntail reach lengths of ten feet and can weigh up to 110 pounds. Gorebyss reach lengths of twelve feet and can weigh up to 60 pounds. The lifespan of wild gorebyss and huntail is unknown. Captive specimens can live for up to ten years after evolution.
Behavior
Clamperl are almost entirely sedentary. While they can move by creating jets of water this is only done when food is no longer drifting by the pokémon's location. Almost all of their time is spent in one place filtering the water that comes to them. Occasionally another pokémon will approach and try to eat the soft pink flesh of the clamperl. The moment they insert themselves into the bivalve's shell it will clamp down and bisect the would-be predator. The clamperl will stay closed until the meal they cut off is properly digested. Then they will open back up and resume filtering the water as if nothing had happened.
Some predators can pierce a clamperl's shell from behind and eat them. Golisopod are believed to be clamperl's main predator. Chinchou and lanturn can also electrocute a clamperl until it is dead, pry open the shell, and eat the organs without risk of reprisal. Malamar probably eat clamperl although this has never been directly observed. Cephalopods often view bivalves as both a game and a meal. The shells can even be a home for smaller cephalopods.
Huntail float about five meters above the sediment to stay out of reach for golisopod and other benthic pokémon. They illuminate their tail and wiggle it around to draw out mid-size predators. These predators will quickly become the prey when huntail whirls around and clamps its large, powerful maw full of needle-like teeth down. After their food is digested the huntail will illuminate its tail again. Huntail can eat pokémon up to two-thirds of their body mass. This is accomplished by means of a set of double jaws, one of which can be detached.
It is not believed that huntail have many predators. Gyarados seldom dive beneath the photic zone and huntail are simply too small for wailord to bother with. The odd malamar might try to fight one, but huntail are very resistant to psychic attacks and attempts at hypnosis. Golisopod have been observed launching themselves off the seafloor to attack a huntail. Should they miss they open themselves up to reprisal. Huntail's teeth can pierce golisopod's armor and inflict a fatal blow.
Gorebyss feed exclusively on blood. It is believed that they use long-range telepathic scans to find prey they can latch on to and drain. They prefer to attach themselves to diving wailord. Gorebyss will then follow the wailord throughout their dive and even back to the photic zone. A single gorebyss is unlikely to kill an adult wailord. Two dozen might. As a precaution wailord usually float into the air after being bitten. They can float above the surface for long enough that the gorebyss need to detach themselves and return to the water to breathe. Gorebyss try not to stay in the photic zone for too long as there are far more predators up there (sharpedo, braviary, noivern, gyarados) than in the deep sea. When there are no wailord available gorebyss will latch on to smaller pokémon such as relicanth. If their prey dies they will simply swim away and let the remaining flesh sink to the seafloor.
Gorebyss have demonstrated social behaviors in the wild. Sometimes they can be observed in long trains of gorebyss wrapped around the tail of the pokémon in front of them. They will swim through the water like one big organism. This is suspected to be a mating ritual.
Husbandry
Clamperl are relatively easy to care for. They can simply be placed into a shallow, cold, and dimly lit pool. It is possible to feed them via filtration, but it is much easier to simply use a long pair of tongs to put a dead fish into the clamperl's shell. It will then bite down on its meal and slowly digest it. Whenever the clamperl opens back up it will need to be fed again. This results in a rather uninteresting pokémon that constantly stays closed.
Trainers who wish to properly bond with their pokémon will need to let it filter feed. Regularly inserting marine snow or zooplankton into a tank can ensure the pokémon will have enough to eat. Ordinarily filter feeders will peacefully coexist and passively clean the water in a community tank. Clamperl, unfortunately, tend to kill any curious tankmates. It is best to keep them in a well-monitored and designed single-species tank.
Huntail are difficult to feed. They will eventually learn to eat dead meat placed in the same tank but they will be reluctant at first. Going to eat dead things on the benthos carries a risk of being killed by a golisopod in the wild. Aquarists have had more luck dropping a fish, squid, or crustacean over the tip of the pokémon's tail. Attempting to feed the pokémon directly with tongs will result in broken tongs or teeth.
Huntail do not need pressurized water as long as they have been properly acclimated to surface pressures. They prefer water between 32 and 40 degrees. Darker tanks are better than brightly lit ones. They can survive for up to an hour out of water but this is stressful for the pokémon. They do not need a large tank as they rarely move around. Conventional enrichment is unnecessary. Moves and commands can be taught but it tends to go slowly. Thankfully they do gradually develop a bond with humans they associate with feeding time.
Gorebyss can live in bright, warm tanks as long as there are places for them to hide. They are not good for community tanks as they will try to kill most tankmates. Some aquarists have had luck keeping them with shellder and corsola. Feeding them can be difficult for those faint of heart. Gorebyss need to be fed live prey. They will attach themselves to their prey, drain their bodily fluids, and then promptly lose interest. Mammals are preferred to fish. Reptiles are only drained as a last resort.
Gorebyss are far more curious than huntail and can be taught basic and even advanced commands in time. It is still dangerous to enter the tank of even a trained gorebyss. They may simply wrap themselves around a trusted human. It is more likely that they latch on with their sharp teeth and start drinking their blood.
Illness
One problem with keeping filter-fed clamperl is that they require having large amounts of nutrients free-floating in the water. If these rot they can create buildups of toxic chemicals and potentially kill the clamperl outright. Their tanks must be regularly monitored for nitrate or ammonium buildup.
Gorebyss and huntail are very hardy. The only common illness observed in either is bacterial infection. If the skin or eyes seem to be cloudy take the pokémon to a veterinarian. Bacterial infections caught early will almost always be fully recovered from.
Evolution
Clamperl's body grows continuously. At some point the shell stops growing alongside it. The clamperl will eventually become unable to fully close its shell, making it increasingly vulnerable to predators. If a gorebyss or huntail swims by a clamperl at or near the limits of its shell they will descend and give the bivalve a gift. Huntail donate a tooth and gorebyss give a scale. The clamperl will then clamp itself shut as best as it is able and begin the evolution process.
X-rays have provided insights into what happens in the shell of an evolving clamperl. The pokémon's nervous system seals itself off inside of a bubble and separates from the rest of the flesh. It then begins to divide like it were a single cell, slowly consuming the rest of its former body as it grows. When everything is consumed the new gorebyss or huntail will push its way out of the shell and swim off. Over the course of the next six to eight months it will grow to full size.
Any oysters are abandoned with the shell. This is the ideal time to harvest the oysters from captive specimens. Alternatively, the pokémon can simply not be evolved. This only works for filter feeding setups where the ability to fully close the shell is mostly irrelevant. The clamperl will eventually die from an inability to pump blood throughout the entire body with its primitive circulatory system, but this won't happen for at least a year after the pokémon is unable to fully close its shell. Very large clamperl may be unable to successfully evolve.
Captive evolution requires a huntail tooth or a gorebyss scale. It can be triggered at any time after the pokémon's shell has stopped growing. A tooth will result in evolution into huntail and a scale will evolve the pokémon into a gorebyss.
Battle
Clamperl have a small niche as shell smash abusers. Cloyster is generally a better choice for this role due to its greater ranged options and initial bulk but clamperl can be used by trainers with budget or resource constraints. After weakening its own shell the clamperl can move with very fast and powerful jets of water. The clamping force of its bite is not weakened, allowing it to quickly force the surrender of many opponents.
Gorebyss and huntail retain some ability to use shell smash, weakening their own armor or skin but greatly increasing their ability to draw on elemental energy. If shell smash is not used both are durable water-types. Huntail is slower and primarily dependent on melee options, but both issues are partially fixed by shell smash. Gorebyss is faster and has more long-range attacks such as psychic, hydro pump, and ice beam. Using shell smash undermines gorebyss's walling potential but dramatically powers up its attacks.
Neither is necessarily a bad choice in competitive battling but they are seldom used in practice. Gorebyss and huntail are expensive. Many aquarists consider them the crown jewel of their collections. Using one in battle in a way that intentionally makes them more vulnerable to harm threatens a very valuable pokémon.
Gorebyss and huntail mostly lack the tools needed to capitalize on their bulk. They can eventually be taught toxic but they have no natural venoms or poisons to enhance the poison-type energy. Whirlpools are good for passively damaging foes but neither creates one so strong that high level opponents will not be able to escape it. Additionally whirlpool requires getting their opponent into the water, something that neither pokémon has the tools to reliably accomplish.
No stage of the evolutionary line is a good pick on the island challenge. They require large pools of water to reach their full potential. These will seldom be available during totem and kahuna battles.
Acquisition
Most of Alola's deep sea reefs are in the seamounts at the tail end of the archipelago. Catching pokémon from one requires a boat, either to store SCUBA equipment or to house deep sea lines. The best way to catch a live clamperl, huntail, or gorebyss is to dive down to their home with specialized equipment. This is best done with a powerful water-type for protection, especially one that does not need to surface to breathe and can withstand the pressures over 100 feet down.
Once a clamperl, gorebyss, or huntail is found it will need to be put to sleep or otherwise incapacitated. Then the trainer must scoop it into a net and slowly bring it to the surface. Rapidly ascending or trying to capture the pokémon in a pokéball at depth will result in depressurization sickness, potentially killing the newly captured pokémon. Gorebyss handle ascension better than huntail who in turn require fewer delays than clamperl. There are experimental pokéballs that negate the effects of depressurization sickness, but these are still very expensive and hard to come by at present.
Clamperl can be captured or purchased with a Class II license. Gorebyss and huntail require a Class III. Due to the difficulties in caring for them and the high market demand it is very rare for a shelter to have one.
Breeding
Neither gorebyss nor huntail has been bred in captivity. It is not understood how they breed as the process has never been observed. They only have one pair of sex organs. It seems likely that they reproduce via direct deposit of sperm into the female rather than by broadcast spawning. The act itself has never been witnessed. Gorebyss trains might be a precursor to the mating act but the trains have always dispersed before any gamete exchange has been observed.
Relatives
There are two main types of clamperl. The first, the filter feeders, A. acritesta. The other are photosynthesizers, A. plantesta. These clamperl live near the surface and have colorful 'lips' loaded with zooxanthellae. They passively gain energy from the sun until it is time to evolve. Whenever a gorebyss has followed a wailord to the surface in these areas it will do a quick scan for any clamperl in need of evolution. If it finds one it will telekinetically lift it up and carry it down to the deep seas. A. plantesta gorebyss are larger and more colorful than those seen in Alola. The clamperl are also larger and can use grass elemental attacks when threatened. The huntail are about the same size as those seen in Alola.
Alolan clamperl and its evolutions, A. a. gigas, appears to be somewhere between the standard deep sea clamperl and the tropical photosynthesizers. Alolan clamperl are larger than the other deep sea clamperl that can be found in the trenches and seamounts of the North Pacific. Alolan gorebyss and huntail are also larger than most of the deep sea subspecies.
Recent studies have suggested that this is because Alola's clamperl might actually be descended from surface dwelling photosynthesizers. Fossilized shells of A. plantesta have been found in Alola and legends describe the early kahunas wielding large, colorful shields. It sems likely that the Polynesians drove A. plantesta to extinction on Alola. Those that survived did so by retreating to the depths and becoming more like their ancestors. There is some debate over whether the Alolan clamperl should be reclassified from a subspecies of the deep sea clamperl to a subspecies of the surface clamperl. Some argue it should be a species in its own right.