10 Things You Didn’t Know about Shiny Shellder in Pokemon

Shellders are one of the Pokemon species introduced in Generation I. Speaking bluntly, even its shiny form isn’t particularly notable on its own. However, Shellders have nonetheless managed to carve out a position for themselves in the Pokemon fandom thanks to some of their more unusual characteristics. Here are 10 things that you may or may not have known about Shiny Shellders:

1. The Species Is Called the Bivalve Pokemon

It is interesting to note that the Shellder species is called the Bivalve Pokemon. For those who are unfamiliar, bivalve is a term for a mollusk with an external shell consisting of two parts connected via a hinge. As such, the Bivalve Pokemon is an excellent choice of name because Shellders are indeed bivalve in nature. Something that the species shares with its evolution as well as an unrelated Pokemon species called Clamperls.

2. Shellders Aren’t Based On a Single Shellfish Species

Shellders are not based on a single shellfish species but instead take inspiration from a number of them. For example, it seems safe to say that their tongue is based on the foot of a clam because the two appendages are used for the same purposes. Likewise, the Shellders’s ability to move about seems to be based on that of scallops.

3. Shellders Are Not Immobile

Speaking of which, while there are some Pokemon species that are immobile, Shellders aren’t one of them. First, the species is capable of using their tongue for a wide range of purpose, which happen to include burrowing into the sand as well as luring in prey before capturing them. Second, Shellders are actually capable of moving about at great speeds by opening and shutting their shells, which is an exaggerated version of the scallop’s already impressive locomotion.

4. Shellders Have Very Hard Shells

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Shellders have very hard shells. In fact, their shells are supposed to be harder than diamonds. Some people might be surprised by this because of the popular perception that diamonds are the hardest substance that exist. However, it is important to note that diamonds are far from being the hardest substance that can ever exist. In fact, scientists have known about harder-than-diamond materials for years and years, with more examples still being discovered from time to time.

5. Shellders Used to Be Used For Shields

Naturally, this means that the shell of a Shellder has a lot of potential usefulness for humans in the Pokemon setting. In particular, it is said that humans in the Pokemon setting once used the shells of Shellders as shields, which seems like a pretty simple and straightforward use of the material. After all, the shell is already in a convenient shape, meaning that it shouldn’t take that much effort to convert it into a usable shield. On top of that, if the official weight of a Shellder is any indication, whatever material the shell is made out of is presumably very lightweight in nature, thus making it even more suitable for such use.

6. Can Make Pearls

Shellders are capable of making pearls in much the same manner as oysters. This is the reason that wild Shellders can be found with Pearls as well as Big Pearls. Both items have no practical use whatsoever but can be sold for a handsome price. As a result, it seems reasonable to speculate that Shellder pearls are seen as precious gemstones by the humans of the Pokemon setting, which is an important distinction because not all pearls produced by all shellfish species are considered to be so in real life. Amusingly, Shellders have no regard for their pearls, as shown by how they will eventually spit out the pearls that they produce because they are getting in the way.

7. More Than Capable of Protecting Themselves

Besides their hard shells, Shellders have other ways of protecting themselves. For example, they are capable of shooting spears of ice. Likewise, they are capable of clamping down on their enemies with great force. However, it is interesting to note that Shellders won’t clamp down on their enemies save as a move of last resort, which can be explained by the fact that they will expose their vulnerable innards in the process.

8. Prey Species

These protective capabilities are important because Shellders are very much a prey species in the Pokemon setting. In the prehistoric past, they were predated upon by Omastars, which presumably cracked them open using their fearsome beaks. In the present, Shellders are preyed upon by everything from Kinglers to Rufflets and Bruxish. Some of these Pokemon presumably use brute force to make their way through the Shellder’s defenses, while others might have more unusual methods for reaching the same end.

9. Shellders Play a Role in Slowpoke Evolution

Shellders evolve into Cloysters. However, what is unusual about Shellders is that they play an important role in both of the evolutions for Slowpokes. In the case of a Slowpoke becoming a Slowbro, what happens is that the Shellder will latch on to the Slowpoke’s tail before prompting the two of them to turn into a more powerful and somewhat more motivated Slowbro. Meanwhile, what happens in a Slowpoke to Slowking evolution is that the Shellder will latch on to the Slowpoke’s head before forming a symbiotic relationship. The Shellder benefits by feeding off of the nutrients of its host, while the host benefits because the Shellder’s venom makes it smarter than otherwise possible. Curiously, the Shellders seen on Slowbroes and Slowkings are very different in appearance from their independent counterparts, though they are indeed members of the same species.

10. Shiny Rates Are Very Low

Shiny Shellders are not particularly impressive looking Pokemon. As such, it is hard to imagine one being worth the hassle needed to catch a specific shiny Pokemon. To get an idea of the odds, even if interested individuals max out their chances in Generation VIII by having encountered Shellders more than 500 times while wearing the Shiny Charm, their chances of running into a shiny Shellder are still just 1 in 512. On the whole, shiny Pokemon are nice to have, but the effort needed to get them won’t be worth it for most Pokemon players.