Qwilfish is a sea dwellingpiscinePokémon with a spherical body and a flat, paddle-shaped tail. The upper half of its body is dark teal and the lower half is light greenish-yellow. Its tail is tall and thin with a dark teal outline, light greenish-yellow inside, and two dark teal dots in the center that resemble the Japanese character ハ Ha. Its eyes are even with its body and are always seen slanted angrily. Below its eyes are its puffy pink lips. All around its body are sharp, conical spikes, which evolved from scales over time.
In order to attack, Qwilfish drinks over 2.6 gallons (10 litres) of water to inflate its body. It then uses the water pressure to shoot poisonous quills at its foe, which can cause fainting. Qwilfish is briefly left defenseless shortly after firing its quills; this is believed by some expert fishers to be the opportune moment to catch this Pokémon. Due to its round body, Qwilfish is not a great swimmer, and when filled with water it is even harder for it to swim. When Qwilfish faces a larger opponent, it will inflate its body to match its size as close as it can. If it is startled while inflated, it will spit out all its water, propelling itself away.
In Hisui, its upper half is black, while its lower half is pale yellow. Its body is covered in spikes; the spikes on its upper body have dark purple tips, except for the two spikes on its forehead, which are also smaller in size. Hisuian Qwilfish can spray poison from these spines. There are crescent purple lines underneath Hisuian Qwilfish's eyes, and its lips are also colored purple. Its flat tail has a black outline with a light yellow inside, and a black pattern that resembles the lowercase letter "q".
Hisuian Qwilfish is despised by the fisherman of the Hisui region, due to its poison wreaking havoc in the seas it lives in. Its poisonous spikes are thicker and shorter than Qwilfish from other regions. This form of Qwilfish absorbs poison from the food it consumes. The purple coloration on its body serves as evidence of its potent poison. In the present day, Hisuian Qwilfish is known to be found offshore in cold parts of the world and in Blueberry Academy, located somewhere in Unova's ocean, specifically in the Terarium's Polar Biome.
To fire its poison spikes, it must inflate its body by drinking over 2.6 gallons of water all at once. (Pokémon Red, Silver, or Crystal inserted) The small spikes covering its body developed from scales. They inject a toxin that causes fainting. (Pokémon Blue, Gold, or Yellow inserted)
Qwilfish sucks in water, inflating itself. This Pokémon uses the pressure of the water it swallowed to shoot toxic quills all at once from all over its body. It finds swimming somewhat challenging.
A Qwilfish uses the pressure of water it swallows to shoot toxic quills all at once from all over its body. It finds swimming to be somewhat challenging.
Qwilfish sucks in water, inflating itself. This Pokémon uses the pressure of the water it swallowed to shoot toxic quills all at once from all over its body. It finds swimming somewhat challenging.
Fishers detest this troublesome Pokémon because it sprays poison from its spines, getting it everywhere. A different form of Qwilfish lives in other regions.
Qwilfish swallows gallons of seawater to inflate itself to intimidate enemies. If it gets startled, it spits out all that water and sends itself flying to who knows where.
In Just Add Water, Dorian, the Gym Leader of the unofficial Coastline Gym, used a Qwilfish in an underwater battle against Misty and her Goldeen, that he managed to win.
Qwilfish, the Balloon Pokémon. The quills covering the entire body have evolved from scales. A Qwilfish can cause its body to swell in order to shoot its needles in all directions.
A swarm of Qwilfish appeared in Querulous Qwilfish, where they were angered by pollution that occurred as a result of an accident that occurred during the construction of the Battle Tower. Crystal captured all of them with her skills. Afterwards, she found a baby Qwilfish stuck in the toxic waste; as she prepared to take it to a Pokémon Center, Suicune appeared, healing Qwilfish and purifying the seawater. It is unknown if the Qwilfish are still under Crystal's ownership or were released afterwards.
In order to attack the enemy all over the body with its poisonous sting, the Qwilfish has to take in a lot of water and expand up to several times of its actual size.*
Qwilfish can be seen as a parallel to Remoraid. Both of them are Water-type Generation II Pokémon. Qwilfish is exclusive to FireRed, while Remoraid is exclusive to LeafGreen, with both Pokémon found in the same locations in their respective versions, and both being swarm Pokémon in Generation II and Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver.
Qwilfish is the only Pokémon with a name beginning with the letter "Q" that is not followed by a "U" like most words in the English language.
It is also one of only two Pokémon to have a "Q" in its name that is not followed by a "U", the other being its Hisuian evolved form Overqwil.
Hisuian Qwilfish and its evolved form are the only dual-type Poison/Dark Pokémon to have Dark as their primary type instead of their secondary type.
The Pokémon Gold and Silver Spaceworld '97 demo has an early design of Qwilfish named プクー Pukū, whose name may be a corruption of 河豚 fugu (pufferfish). It was a pure Water type and would evolve into シビレフグ Shibirefugu at level 18.
Sprite of Pukū from 1997 demo
Sprite of Shibirefugu from 1997 demo
Origin
Qwilfish seems to be based on pufferfish or porcupinefish, which inflate their bodies when threatened and are covered in spines. Many species are incredibly toxic when ingested, which explains Qwilfish's Poison type. However, its ability to directly inject venom through its spines is similar to a lionfish. It is also reminiscent of a naval mine due to its round body and ability to explode.
Hisuian Qwilfish's Dark type and poisonous diet may be based on the illegalisation of the fugu dish due to its toxicity. The law was put in place a few times in Japanese history, including the 1800s (which Pokémon Legends: Arceusappears to be based on), but the illegal fugu market continued and thrived for so long that the governing shogunate became incapable of enforcing the law. Hisuian Qwilfish and Overqwil appear to be rarer in recent times, which could be a reference to porcupinefish being threatened due to overfishing for the fugu dish.
Name origin
Qwilfish may be a combination of quill and fish.
Harysen may be derived from 針千本 harisenbon (porcupinefish). The character 千 sen in 針千本 harisenbon means thousand, and this numerical theming is continued with Overqwil's Japanese name.
This Pokémon article is part of Project Pokédex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each Pokémon species, as well as Pokémon groups and forms.
Poison Barb (100%)
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For other sprites and images, please see Qwilfish images on the Bulbagarden Archives.
Sprite of Pukū from 1997 demo
Sprite of Shibirefugu from 1997 demo
