Fish People: Difference between revisions

 

{{examples}}

* The Water Folk from ''[[Moribito Guardian of the Spirit]]''.

* The Fishmen from ''[[One Piece]]''. Their sister species are the Merfolk, traditional mermaids. The two species get along pretty well and can even interbreed, but the Fishmen tend to be more aggressive and angry towards humans while the Merfolk are light-hearted and naive. Also Fishmen are [[Super Strength|10x stronger than humans from birth]] and can [[Making a Splash|use water as a weapon]].

** It has recently been revealed that Merfolk can use water as a weapon in pretty much the exact same way.

* One of the many denizens found in the Magic World of ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' was a dolphin man. A trucker dolphin man. With flippers for hands. How he was able to hold things like the postcard from {{spoiler|Makie and Yuuna}} without fingers, we may never know.

** [[A Wizard Did It]].

* People with fish for heads (yes, that's right, ''fish for heads'') from another planet are shown in the fifth arc of the ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' manga. They can be seen [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ixdkIOhwVE&feature=related here at about 3:36.]

 

* Abe Sapien from the ''[[Hellboy (comics)|Hellboy]]'' comic and its adaptations in other media.

* Triton from the [[Marvel Universe]].

* The [[Tangent Comics]] version of the Sea Devils.

* Man Ray, a.k.a. Ray Fillet in the [[Archie Comics]] ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures]]''.

* King Shark, former Aquaman and Superboy villain, one-time member of the [[Secret Six]], and post-DCnU reboot a member of the [[Suicide Squad]]. But don't call him a fish person! He is a shark! [[Insistent Terminology|A SHARK!]]

 

* The Missing Link from ''[[Monsters vs. Aliens]]'' is a [[Creature from the Black Lagoon]]-esque fish-man.

* ''[[A New Hope|Star Wars]]:''

** Gungans, including the notorious [[Alien Scrappy|Jar Jar Binks]]. Though they're more amphibian people.

** In the original trilogy, [[Punny Name|Mon Calamari]] like Admiral Ackbar ([[Memetic Mutation|"It's a TRAP!"]]) and [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Mon_Calamari this dancer]. It seems odd, but they can squeeze those hands and feet into human-shaped boots and gloves as needed. From the same planet we get the [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/File:QuarrenNEGAS.jpg Quarren], who are even more squidlike than Kit.

** The [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] has a number of [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Aquatic_sentient_species aquatic sentients], most of whom are fishy in nature.

* ''[[Godzilla]] vs. Hedorah'' has a VERY odd and out of place scene where a man pictures humans with fish heads. It makes no sense at all, and is never mentioned again.

* As mentioned above, Abe Sapien from ''[[Hellboy (film)|Hellboy]]''.

* ''[[The Last Lovecraft]]'' has Starspawn and his pets as fish people; they're weakened from being away from the ocean. Also there was a curious "Half-Breed" show, probably offspring of one of the many rapings we hear about in the movie.

 

 

* [[H.P. Lovecraft]]'s [[Cthulhu Mythos|Deep Ones]], first appearing in ''[[The Shadow Over Innsmouth]]'', are one of the oldest and most nightmarish examples.

* Michael Reaves and Steve Perry's novel ''[[Dome]]'' is set at a futuristic undersea research lab. One of its residents volunteers to be genetically modified into a Fish Person in order to better survive the underwater environment.

* Emily Rodda's ''[[Rowan of Rin]]'' books have a race of fish-people called the Maris.

* The Merlons from the Crystal Doors series of books.

* ''[[The Scar]]'' by [[China Mieville]] has several aquatic races, most notably the Grindylow.

* The [[Slayers]] novels feature this too (obviously, since the anime was based of them). There are apparently several varieties of fish people of varying degrees of icthyism, but Nunsa, the one who appears in the first novel, takes the cake; talking and walking around on land are his only concessions to the "people" part of the trope. When Zolf tells him to kiss Lina to gross her out, he comments that he's considered the most desirable mate in his school (the [[Incredibly Lame Pun|best catch]], you might say), then sits down and waits patiently. When quizzed, he claims he's waiting for the eggs, since he's not sure what kissing is, but is vaguely aware it's related to mating.

{{quote|"Those eels will take a mortal long time to cook, and either of you might faint with hunger before they're done. I knew a little girl—but I'd better not tell you that story. It might lower your spirits, and [[Hypocritical Humor|that's a thing I never do]]."

"The bright side of it is, that if we break our necks getting down the cliff, then we're safe from being drowned in the river."

** In his defense, he's a [[Determinator]] who manages to keep Jill and Eustace going, and the sole member of his group who remembers the quest when the others were distracted by promises of food and comfort from Harfang. He realized that [[The Vamp|the Lady of the Green Kirtle]] and [[Super Fun Happy Thing of Doom|the Gentle Giants of Harfang]] were not to be trusted long before his companions did. And he has several [[Moment of Awesome (Sugar Wiki)|incredibly epic moments]], the most memorable being a [[Shut UP, Hannibal]] which proved that he ''wasn't'' always a complete pessimist.

 

** The Expanded Universe has the Krill and the Selachians, as well as one-time [[Doctor Who Magazine]] companion Destrii.

* The ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' episode "Go Fish" had one of these, where the swim team [[Lego Genetics|magically mutates]] into fish dudes due to their coach giving them illegal, soviet fish-based steroids. We know, it makes no sense. Unusually for monsters in a Buffy episode, they all lived [[Happily Ever After]] in the ocean.

* The Antedeans in ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]''.

 

* The "Forevers" from Planet Y in the ''[[Ayreon]]'' saga.

* [[Kate Bush]]'s label is called Fish People. Its mascot is a person whose head is a fish.

* UK Hard trance label Tinrib stands out as having a nautical theme, complete with one of these as their mascot.

 

* One legend pertaining to the legendary Merovingian Dynasty claims that they were descendants of Fish People. The writers of the ''[[Holy Blood Holy Grail]]'', and ''[[The Da Vinci Code]]'' decided to interpret this as that they were in fact the descendants of Jesus Christ, since early Christians used a stylized fish as their symbol, not to mention that the Greek word for fish, ''icthys'', formed a nice acronym of Jesus's name and titles. There isn't an ounce more evidence to prove this theory than there is to prove actual Fish People's involvement, though.

** This seems to be based on a rather desperate interpretation. "Merovingian" means people of the sea, and so originally most likely referred to a people who lived on the coast, or settlers who came from overseas.

* According to Japanese mythology, earthquakes are caused by a giant catfish called the ''namazu''. Following the Great Ansei Earthquake that struck Edo (Tokyo) in 1855, a new type of watercolor blockprint, called ''namazu-e'' (catfish pictures) became popular. Examples featuring anthropomorphized catfish can be seen [http://pinktentacle.com/2011/04/namazu-e-earthquake-catfish-prints/ here].

 

** The ''Savage Species'' supplement introduced the [[Funny Animal|anthropomorphic animal]] template, which can be applied to any creature with the Animal type, including mundane fish.

** In 3E, every 1 in 100 sahuagin would be born looking like their hated enemies, the sea elves. Most of the team, these mutated sahuagin, called malenti, were [[Eats Babies|eaten by their own parents]]. Some of them are raised to be deep cover infiltrators for sahuagin, though.

* In ''[[Mortasheen|Morta]][http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen.htm sheen]'' there are several of these, created as servants for the [[Our Vampires Are Different|mostly aquatic vampires]]. You've got your requisite [http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/gilldevil.htm Creature From The Black Lagoon homage] and [http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/makkoron.htm man-shark], but the others are [http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/siluro.htm somewhat] [http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/tetroxic.htm stranger]

* ''[[Fifty Fathoms]]'' has fish people, crab people, squid people, dolphin people, seal people and (villainous) octopus people.

 

* The Barraki in ''[[Bionicle]]''.

* Lagoona Blue from ''[[Monster High]]'', who has a pretty strong case of the [[The Shadow Over Innsmouth|Innsmouth Look]] going on- blue skin, protruding eyes, full lips, a nose so flat as to be virtually nonexistent, fins on her arms and legs and serving as her ears, and webbed fingers. There's also her boyfriend, Gillington "Gil" Webber.

 

* The Zora from ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'' games. They're actually [http://zelda.wikia.com/wiki/Zora much better looking] than most fish people.

* Rikuo Aulbath and the other mermen ([[Last of His Kind|the few that are left]]) from ''[[Darkstalkers]]''.

* The Argonians from ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]'' are [[Lizard Folk]] with some fish-like features.

* Manillos from ''[[Breath of Fire]]''.

* The Gillmen from ''[[X-COM]]: Terror from the Deep'', which were possibly inspired by the [[Creature from the Black Lagoon]].

** Just about EVERY Alien in Terror from the Deep falls under this, particularly the Gillman example above and the Lobstermen.

* Referred to in ''[[My Sims|MySims Kingdom]]'', when you go to Cowboy Junction. [[Deadpan Snarker|Lyndsay]] replies that it's probably inhabited by a race of fish-men. He doesn't grasp the subtle art of sarcasm...

* ''[[Suikoden Tierkreis]]'' invokes the series traditions of [[Petting Zoo People]] and a [[Theme Naming|theme named]] set of five Stars with the Porpos-kin: cuddly-looking dolphin people who live in an '''unusually''-shaped' coastal town.

* Fishmen are one of the staple enemies of the ''[[Castlevania]]'' series.

* Trilarian, the aquatic race from ''[[Master of Orion]]'' 2. It isn't clear when they debut, but they're confirmed to be fish in ''Master Of Orion'' 3.

* In ''[[Fallout 3]]'' the mirelurks are crabs that have become huge and bipedal [[Nuclear Nasty|due to radiation]], but the mirelurk kings are former snapping turtles that look exactly like the [[Creature from the Black Lagoon]].

* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons Online]]'''s [[Noob Cave]] is crawling (or would that be swimming?) with sahuagin.

* ''[[Rift]]'' features Deep Ones as common [[Making a Splash|Water Plane]]-aligned foes. They look part gill-man, part crustacean.

* The Merian race from ''[[Lusternia]]''. They are decidedly non-human in appearance, being scaled, hairless, blue and finned, but are a highly [[Blue Skinned Space Babe|attractive]], intelligent and noble race with a proud history of scientific accomplishment. Interbreeding with humans has resulted in a few crossbreeds, some even having hair - but however diluted the Merian genealogy, all "real" Merians can breathe underwater.

* The [[X (video game)|X-Universe's]] Boron are squid people.

* ''[[Athena (video game)|Athena]]'' has these as enemies in the [[Under the Sea]] level.

 

* Des from ''[[Scary Go Round]]''.

* In a homage to [[H.P. Lovecraft]]'s [[Cthulhu Mythos|Deep Ones]], ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]]'' makes jokes about the neighboring town of Innsmouth, where the police keep getting (supposedly) crank calls about fish people.

* [[Jerkass|Eridan]] and [[Genki Girl|Feferi]] from [[Homestuck]] are fish[[All Trolls Are Different|trolls]]. Eridan even lampshades it at one point to get Feferi to [[Pungeon Master|quit using fish puns]].

 

* The sea monster from the ''[[Jonny Quest]]'' episode "The Sea Haunt".

* Mer-Man and his fellow Aquaticans from ''[[He-Man and the Masters of the Universe]]''.

* Mako, one of Doc Terror's [[Evil Minions]] in ''[[Centurions]]''.

** In "Aqua Ducks", Uncle Scrooge and company are imprisoned by the "fish folk" of [[Atlantis]], who blame them for all the pollution coming from the surface world.

** "The Ducky Horror Picture Show" includes [[Affectionate Parody|affectionate parodies]] of famous movie monsters, including the [[Creature from the Black Lagoon]].

** Ray from the episode "Rebel Without a Fin" is a male example that is more fish-like, being a mutant manta ray, with abilities from other marine animals; in the same episode, April O'Neil is also turned into a mutant fish.

** Stegmut ''used'' to be.

* The cast of ''[[Monster Force (animation)|Monster Force]]'' included animated versions of several old school [[Universal]] monsters, including the [[Creature from the Black Lagoon]].

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Instant Index, Just Add Water]]

[[Category:Index of Exact Trope Titles]]