Puckering Blinnow

Puckering Blinnow
Appears in	Pikmin 3, Hey! Pikmin
Scientific name	Narrolingus piscatum
Family	Elips
Areas	Tropical Wilds, Garden of Hope, Foaming Lake, Serene Stream, The Shallow End, Treacherous Currents, Pollution Pool, Downpour Thicket, Below the Ice
Mission Mode Collect Treasure! stages	Forgotten Cove, Clockwork Chasm
Mission Mode Battle Enemies! stages	Twilight River Remix, Beastly Caverns, Forgotten Cove
Side Story days	River, Tundra, Land, Sea, and Sky, First Part Found
Bingo Battle stages	Buried Pond
Attacks	Eat Pikmin

The following article or section is in need of assistance from someone who plays Hey! Pikmin.

The Puckering Blinnow (ウオノコ^?, lit.: "Saw Fish") is an aquatic minnow-like enemy found in Pikmin 3 and Hey! Pikmin. It is a small, colorful fish enemy that inhabits bodies of water. It has two large yellow eyes with purple irises, which are each nearly as big as its head. It is light blue with dark blue stripes on its top and spots on its side, and has a green fin spreading from its bottom to its back. It finally has a long beak, similar to a real world dolphin. It is about three times the width and half of the height of a leader, having a quite narrow appearence. In Hey! Pikmin, they have spiky teeth.

These creatures usually swim passively around in water, usually in groups of three or more. When one spots a group of Pikmin, it approaches the nearest Pikmin, grabs it, and quickly swims away. If the player attacks the Blinnow, it will drop the Pikmin and try to jump out of the water to avoid being attacked. If not attacked in time, they will eat the caught Pikmin. They can also jump out of the water to catch any Winged Pikmin flying overhead, and go to the surface to catch any non-Blue Pikmin that is struggling. It is very swift in the water, but it can only grab one Pikmin at a time. These creatures have a tendency to cause caught Pikmin to launch high into the air after death, if they had one in their jaws.

Stats

To do: Find out its health in Hey! Pikmin by retreiving the value from the game files. Care to do so?

Game	Weight	Max. carriers	Seeds	Value	Health	Regen.
(?)	1	2 (normally)	2	× 15  × 15	74	No
	N/A	N/A	N/A	× 0	Unknown	Unknown

Notes

Alph's comments

“Structural flaw: weak hide
Weight: 1

They swim in schools. Not only do they hunt prey in their own habitat, but they can jump out of the water and go for prey in the air too. I hadn't expected to see them operate in such different environments, but now that I have, I'm definitely taking notes.”

Brittany's comments

“I saw one swim at the captain and thought they were playing around. Then one came right at me, and owwww. These things don't play! You'd better act fast to call Pikmin back if one of these things catches them.”

Charlie's comments

“Be advised that you're not safe just because you're out of the water. As I know now from experience, they can jump out, catching prey that strays too close to the surface. How can lips be so sharp?!”

Louie's comments

 US version

“Slice raw and serve as sashimi. The marbled fat gives this dish a deep umami flavor.”

 European version

“Slice raw and serve as sashimi. The marbled fat gives this dish a deep umami flavour.”

Olimar's comments

“Puckering Blinnow
Narrolingus piscatum
Elips family

Many assume it's undeveloped due to its large eyes and lack of fins, but this is simply its normal, fully-grown form. Though its dorsal and ventral fins have atrophied, the long caudal fin helps to compensate for this. It can leap high enough out of water to catch low-flying prey. The scales comprising the round patches along the sides are known to turn light pink during breeding season.”

Hey! Pikmin logs

“As long as you don't approach these creatures, which travel in packs, they are no real threat. Their big eyes suggest that they have excellent vision, while the puckered lips indicate...that they're good kissers?”

Pikmin 3 Prima Guide

"Puckering Blinnows are small aquatic creatures that use their narrow bills to skewer unsuspecting victims. Puckering Blinnows tend to congregate; as you attack one Puckering Blinnow, there's a good chance a second enemy will attack your squad.

When you encounter a Puckering Blinnow, use a squad of Blue Pikmin to charge the creature. When a Puckering Blinnow skewers one of your Pikmin, make that enemy your primary target – if you're lucky, at least part of your squad will automatically follow the enemies as it retreats. A skewered Pikmin can survive for a few seconds. Move quickly to defeat a Puckering Blinnow before its victim succumbs to its injuries."

Behavior

Puckering Blinnows are very fast in the water, but incredibly fragile, and will die quickly if attacked by just a few Blue Pikmin. They do not go down without a fight, however, and will go into a fury if attacked, possibly even jumping over the surface of the water, or onto land, where they will flop around helplessly like a Wogpole for a short time. They can catch one Pikmin at a time and they take quite a while to eat it.

Strategy

The following article or section contains guides. The strategies shown are just suggestions.

Though the Puckering Blinnow is a frail creature, it is best to not let your guard down; they can be quick at skewering your Pikmin, especially if they aren't flowered, and can force you to put up quite a chase to get them back. The best way to defeat one is to charge, or simply dismiss your Blue Pikmin onto the enemy. It will be unable to attack and will be easily overwhelmed. The Blinnow should perish quickly this way. If you use a small amount of Pikmin, it will try to jump out of the water to shake them off. It is also possible to get it to throw itself onto dry land where it can be killed very easily.

Another strategy is to throw a Blue Pikmin holding a bomb rock into the center of a school of Blinnows. When it detonates, most, if not all of the Blinnows should be killed by the blast.

In Hey! Pikmin it is considerably weaker meaning that you just need to throw 1 Blue Pikmin at it to kill it.

Technical information

Pikmin 3 technical information (?)
Internal name	tobiuo
HP	74
Rock Pikmin throw hits to kill	1
White Pikmin ingestions to kill	1
Bomb rock explosions to kill	1
Bomb rock ingestions to kill	0
Number of direct hits on top to kill	0
Damage to leaders	5
Territory radius	300
Mission Mode value	0

Naming

To do: Finish explaining its scientific and generator name. Care to do so?

See more: Elips family#Naming.

"Puckering" is when somebody shapes their lips for a kiss, much like how the Puckering Blinnow's mouth normally is. "Blinnow" is a combination of "blenny" and "minnow", two types of real-life fish. Its Japanese name is ウオノコ^?, which translates to "Saw Fish". The relation between this fish and the sawfish is not known. Its scientific name is Narrolingus piscatum. "Narrolingus" sounds similar to "narrow", probably referring to the creature's narrow shape. In Pikmin 3 it is internally known as tobiuo, which means とうお^?, or "flying fish". In Hey! Pikmin, like all enemy internal names in the game, it is a Romanization of its Japanese name with no spaces, Uonoko. However, its generator name is enemy_fish_macky. While the first part is clearly because the enemy is a fish, "macky" is the Japanese name for the Mockiwi, and also used in some "common" enemies's internal names.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	ウオノコ? Uo Noko	Saw Fish
Dutch	Tuutvoorn	Pucker(ing) minnow
French	Têtasson	From têtard (tadpole) and poisson (fish)
German	Aqua-Termitentos	Water Sheargrub
Italian	Tarlo acquatico	Water Sheargrub
Spanish	Comején acuático	Water Sheargrub

Gallery

Pikmin 3

• 

  Frontal view of the Puckering Blinnow.

• 

  Side view of the Puckering Blinnow.

• 

  Two Puckering Blinnows swimming in the water.

• 

  The Puckering Blinnow swimming.

Hey! Pikmin

• Puckering Blinnow.jpg

  The Puckering Blinnow in the creature log.

• 

  Olimar fighting Puckering Blinnows underwater.

• 

  A cutscene in the Foaming Lake where a Puckering Blinnow chases some Blue Pikmin.

Trivia

• Their corpses are quite light, and leaders can push them around slowly by walking into them.

See also

• Wogpole
• Water Dumple
• Sputtlefish