That fish is running off with Wario's mustache!

339: Barboach

Loaches are neat fish! So it's a bit of a shame their only representation in Pokemon at current is the non-fully-evolved Barboach. Who is cute in its own right, of course, but it's stuck in yet another case of "Pokemon that evolves into a completely different animal". But we'll get there when we get to Whiscash.

Barboach itself is a cute little noodle of a fish, with nice little frills that resemble the whiskers of a loach's sucker lips, which Barboach also has. It's another case of Pokemon presenting a stylized animal as one of its creatures, but Barboach's down-to-earth-ness is an odd part of its charm. Had the zig-zag pattern on its side been a little less stylized, you'd probably swear this was just a cartoon drawing of a real fish.

W so big they stuck it on his forehead

340: Whiscash

The logical thru-line here seems to just be that loaches and catfish are both fish with whiskers, thus they get to share an evolutionary line together. Whiscash is lovable in its own rights, but a lot of Barboach's realistic-fish-strangeness is kinda gone in favor of being a cartoon catfish. A good cartoon catfish, of course! But still. It's two different flavors of charm!

The only real gimmick here is that it's a Water/Ground type, which if you're waxed up on your Japanese mythology, you would probably know is a reference to earthquakes being caused by giant catfish in said mythology. What's actually happening is that a catfish's whiskers make them extra-sensitive to feeling nearby tectonic movement in ways humans wouldn't notice, thus catfishes have become synonymous with earthquake safety in Japan. Whiscash is essentially a safety mascot but as a Pokemon, which is cute enough in its own right! Another case of "they get the same score, but for different reasons."