Salmonid

A SplatNet 3 wallpaper featuring multiple Salmonids

Salmonids are a species of amphibious salmon and one of the main recurring antagonistic factions in the Splatoon series. They are primarily featured in the cooperative game modes Salmon Run in Splatoon 2 and Salmon Run Next Wave in Splatoon 3, where players battle waves of Salmonids while collecting their Golden Eggs.

Salmonids have a strong warrior culture centered around migration, spawning, combat, and food. Their society is built around hierarchical roles, ranging from weaker basic enemies known as Lesser Salmonids, more dangerous Boss Salmonids, and the rare King Salmonids.

A new local variety of Salmonids appears in the Splatoon Raiders spin-off game.

Appearance and traits

Salmonids as they appear in Splatoon Raiders.

Salmonids appear as an evolved form of real-life salmon similarly to other evolved marine life in the Splatoon series. However, compared to the humanoid appearance of Inklings and Octolings, Salmonids keep their more animalistic look. Even though some types of Salmonids share their names with other real-life salmon, they are supposed to be the same species, with different appearances being the result of the environment they came from.

The Salmonids seen in the Salmon Run series appear to be based on chum salmon in their spawning phase, having gray scales with tones of red.

The variants in the Spirhalite Islands region in Splatoon Raiders appear with longer mouths and humps while sporting mostly red and green skin, closely resembling sockeye salmon.

Locations

Salmonid Swim Zones

Closeup on the sea areas and the Salmonid Swim Zones of the map of Inkadia and The Splatlands.

The Salmonids in the Salmon Run series live in Salmonid Swim Zones, which are designated ocean areas in the world of the Splatoon series and the location of the Salmon Run stages in Splatoon 2 and Splatoon 3. Two Salmonid Swim Zones have been confirmed to exist through the map of Inkadia and The Splatlands. The first zone is located in Inkopolis Bay to the west of Inkopolis while the second one is to the south of Anarchy Bay, which is located to the east of The Crater.

Spirhalite Islands

Partial labelled map of the Spirhalite Islands.

Main article: Spirhalite Islands

The release date trailer for Splatoon Raiders confirmed the Spirhalite Islands to be another region which is inhabited by Salmonids.

According to the Briny Scrolls, a Salmonid school settled there after being attracted by its salt deposits, and exposure to the native Spirhalite crystals has mutated them into drastically more powerful forms. Relics and ruins scattered across the island suggest that at one point they had an advanced civilization.

Biology and culture

Lesser Salmonids and Boss Salmonids are members of the same species. What appearance young Salmonids will reach in maturity is determined by the environment they are raised in. Those who are raised in a harsher environment become Boss Salmonids. Steelheads and Maws have bigger bodies, while Scrappers and Steel Eels have higher intelligence. Some Boss Salmonids, such as Flyfish and Fish Sticks, consist of Lesser Salmonids that have gone through specific training.

Salmonids regularly return in large numbers from their habitat to where they spawned, with the young ones doing so in order to mature, a behavior called a Salmon Run. For them, music signifies the start of such runs, and they play it to raise morale. The best performers from a tribe form a band of three to five members, and bands that are perceived as the very best earn the title "Omega". One such band, ω-3, is a notable Salmonid band whose music plays throughout runs. Additionally, the Smallfry comprising Fish Sticks sing an encouraging chant during runs.

Many Salmonids use cooking utensils as weapons during battle: Chums and Cohocks use frying pans, as well as tongs and time bombs in the Spirhalite Islands, Smallfry use spoons, Grillers are charcoal grills, Stingers use a stack of cooking pots, Flyfish and Chinooks use beverage coolers, and Slammin' Lids use pot lids and soup ladles. Salmonids are an honorable clan; fighting for their clan's pride is seen as an important value. They take care to keep their weapons in great shape. Their frying pans, as well as other weapons they wield, are passed down from generation to generation. Unlike Inklings, Salmonids do not have personal names; instead, individuals are referred to with titles based on what their tribes are known for.

In a developer interview, it was revealed that the Salmonids' choice of weapons is due to them trying to make themselves look "tasty". It was also explained that the Salmonids are not afraid of dying and regard their death to be a cycle of life of which all life is a part. Grillers are said to be the ultimate way of doing so by the Salmonids becoming the contents of the Griller. When the Salmonids fight to the death, they feel a sense of unity with themselves and the world. When they are eaten by other creatures, they see their death as a way of being one with the world. There are also floating food-based sculptures in the background of Salmon Run stages, which were built by the Salmonids to symbolize these beliefs.

The Salmonids and the Octarians have a trade agreement with each other, in which the Salmonids provide Power Eggs used as energy sources in exchange for Octarian weapons and machinery such as Gushers and the vehicles of Slammin' Lids. However, the Salmonids do not trade their Golden Eggs as they consider them too precious.

In rare cases where young Smallfry are separated from their schools, their appetites increase drastically as they attempt to return to their original schools' waters. In Splatoon 3's single-player mode Return of the Mammalians, the player character Agent 3 is accompanied by a particular Smallfry that is implied to have been separated from its school and has seemingly traveled alongside Agent 3 for some time, developing a friendly relationship with them.

Splatoon Raiders

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Power Eggs preserved within Spirhalite will very rarely hatch into Salmonids with special powers. Any such Salmonid is dubbed the Salmonarch, and seemingly assumes a leadership position among all Salmonids. Each Salmonarch has been reputed to be stronger than the last, with the current Salmonarch being reported to be of the seventh generation.

Types of Salmonid

Lesser Salmonids

Main article: Lesser Salmonid

Lesser Salmonids as they appear in Salmon Run.

Lesser Salmonids are standard Salmonids with low health and simplistic means of attack, but with a higher number in which they appear in compared to other types. They only drop regular Power Eggs when being defeated.

Boss Salmonids

Main article: Boss Salmonid

Boss Salmonids as they appear in Salmon Run.

Boss Salmonids are powerful Salmonids. There are multiple varieties of Boss Salmonid, each with a different behavior and method to be defeated. Along with Power Eggs, they drop Golden Eggs in the Salmon Run series and Mega Power Eggs in Splatoon Raiders.

Known Occurrence-specific Salmonids

Main article: Known Occurrence

A Mothership and Chinook as they appear in Salmon Run.

Some Salmonids are unique to specific Known Occurrences, where they serve as the source for Golden Eggs alongside or instead the Boss Salmonids.

Salmonid	Game
	Goldie	✓		✓	✓
Griller	✓	✓
Chinook	✓	✓
Mothership	✓	✓
Mudmouth		✓

King Salmonids

Main article: King Salmonid

The Triumvirate as they appear in Salmon Run Next Wave.

King Salmonids are enormous Salmonids that appear as bosses in the Xtrawave of Salmon Run Next Wave in Splatoon 3.

Seasoned Salmonids

Main article: Seasoned Salmonid

Promotional screenshot of the Thick-Cut Salty Tongue.

Seasoned Salmonids are more powerful variants of Boss Salmonids in Splatoon Raiders.

Mythic Salmonids

Main article: Mythic Salmonid

Flappetizer

Mythic Salmonids are a new category of Salmonids in Splatoon Raiders.

Other Salmonids

There are other unique Salmonids that have appeared in the Splatoon series:

• Hugefry, a rare transformation that can only happen to one out of 10,000 Salmonids.
• Bands
  • ω-3, a trio of musicians who play the music in Salmon Run
    • The Valiant Green Flame Born in Jigokudani
    • The Faithful Servant of the True Salmon Emperor Hizunamasu
    • The Firstborn Child of Alkyne, the Hidden Blade of Yakiharas
  • DHA, a trio of musicians who play music in Splatoon Raiders
• Unique Smallfry
  • The Smallfry that accompanies Agent 3 in Splatoon 3, who is capable of transforming into a Hugefry.
  • The Smallfry of Pudyin Den with a golden spoon, who is stronger and more resistant than any other Smallfry in Splatoon Raiders.

Gallery

➤ View the gallery

Trivia

• Salmonids appear to take inspiration from North American Northwest Coast First Nations cultures, salmon being a staple and cultural food in those regions.
  • Many of the Salmonid illustrations (such as in the Salmon Run logo, on decals and banners in Grizzco's shop, and in Salmon Run stages) are based on the style of NWC traditional artistry, particularly formline art, using many visual motifs and techniques that distinguish it, such as limited, contrasted colors, thick pointed linework, ovoids, S & U forms, and specific characteristic ways of depicting eyes, teeth, and fins.
  • Traditionally, in NWC culture (and generally in many North American first nations cultures), hunted food, particularly salmon, are seen as giving themselves to be eaten in the cycle of life and death. Salmonids, as stated in art books and other official media, share these beliefs, having a desire to be killed and eaten as part of a cycle of life, which is the reason for their common usage of kitchenware.
• The Salmonids' willingness to die may be based on how salmon partaking in the salmon run die after spawning. The dying salmon play an important role in providing nutrients to life surrounding it, which may also be what the Salmonids' belief of "becoming one with the world" is based on.
  • This may also take inspiration from the Spartans, a warrior city-state that valued dying for Sparta in combat. The Salmonids' hair resembles a Spartan helmet.
• The tones of reds on the Salmonids' alludes to salmon in their spawning phase, where they turns a more vibrant red, adopting brown and gray colors instead of the silvery color, and has a more elongated jaw that hooks downwards with bigger teeth. Some species also get hunched backs.
• The Salmonids that use frying pans as their weapons, namely Chums, Cohocks, and Goldies, all have two variations of the frying pan they can wield. One variant of the frying pan has an emblem resembling a Salmonid, a metal handle, a smoother shape, and circular rings on the pan, while the other lacks these features and has a wooden handle.
• Smallfry respawns after being splatted in Return of the Mammalians with the same audio cue as when Inklings and Octolings respawn, but whether or not the Salmonids encountered during Salmon Run are also capable of doing so is unclear.
• In Splatoon 2, Sunken Scroll 17 in mentions that "the pinkfish will emerge from the sea". In Splatoon Raiders, it is revealed that the "pinkfish" are specifically the Spirhalite Island's Salmonid variants. The scroll's description is also directly referenced in the bad ending for the game.
• The Salmonids of the Spirhalite Islands seem to have Mesoamerican inspirations, mainly Mayan with their love for astrology, art and even their written language being inspired by the Mayan written languge.
• The salmonid culture in general seems to have a lot inspirations to Mexica (Aztec) culture, both are honorable warrior cultures that do not fear death and view dying as an honorable thing, with Salmon Runs being comparable to Aztec Flower Wars.
• The Salmonids of the Spirhalite are far more extreme in their beliefs to the point its destructive for both Inklings and the Salmonids of the Swim Zones.
• The "Large Lidded Box" Briny Scroll implies that the treasures Deep Cut and The Mechanic are stealing are actually the Spirhalite Salmonids trash.

Etymology

"Salmonid" is the common name for the ray-finned fish family Salmonidae, which, among others, includes salmon and trout.

Names in other languages

Translation needed

Need separate Chinese names from S3 ^edit

Salmonid

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	シャケ Shake	Salmon
Dutch	Salmoniet	Salmonoid
French	Salmonoïde	Salmonid
German	Salmonide	Salmonid
Italian	Salmonoide	Salmonoid
Russian	Самонид Samonid	Salmonid
Spanish	Salmónido	Salmonid
Chinese	鮭魚 Guīyú	Salmon
Korean	연어 Yeon-eo	Salmon
Portuguese (NOE)	Salmonídeo[Citation needed]	Salmonoid

Translation needed

Japanese name and Japanese, Dutch, Italian, Spanish (Spain), and Portuguese (Portugal) translations. ^edit

Salmonid Swim Zone

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	シャケのナワバリ Shake no nawabari	Salmonids' Turf
Dutch	Salmonieten-Leefgebied
French (NOE)	Habitat des Salmonoïdes	Salmonid habitat
German	Salmoniden-Zone	Salmonid zone
Italian	Zona dei Salmonoidi
Russian	Зона обитания самонидов Zona obitaniya samonidov	Salmonid habitat zone
Spanish (NOE)	Territoria Salmónido
Portuguese (NOE)	Zona dos Salmonids

Internal names

Salmonid

Internal name	Meaning
CoopEnemy	In reference to Salmon Run being a co-op mode