Shed-senpai on DeviantArthttps://www.deviantart.com/shed-senpai/art/Cradily-132991852Shed-senpai

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Cradily

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Description

For *BlueGhosty's Pokémon contest. The first entry must be a realistic rendition of an existing Pokémon. I used Dragonfree's Pokémon Generator had it generate random Pokémon, analyzing the options, until I came across an interesting Pokémon to do. I considered Aerodactyl, Swampert and Torterra before settling for Cradily. I looked it up on Bulbapedia, and then looked up sea anemone on Wikipedia. I kept the two descriptions in mind while I sketched this "realistic" Cradily. Finally, I came up with the following physical attributes:

Its four feet are suction-cupped, allowing Cradily to move around the ocean bed or to anchor itself when necessary. Its long tentacles also have suction-cup-like tips, such that they can attach to prey, inject paralyzing toxins, and carry the prey to its mouth. Its mouth is ring-shaped, and is found at the bottom of its head, around the neck. The yellow rings on its neck allow it to stretch or contract it entirely. The bioluminescent rings on its body are used to attract prey to where it can reach, while the ones on its head assist in it repelling possible predators. Its eyes lies inside the head, protected by a tick layer of glassy transparent skin, much like a fish eye.

The following behavioral elements emerge:

Once the rings on its body attract prey to within its range, Cradily will reach out, attach a tentacle to the prey, inject a paralyzing toxin, and then carry the prey to its mouth. In the event that a predator attacks, it will fully contract its neck, protecting its sensitive neck and mouth. It will then attack the predator with its tentacles, injecting the same toxins it uses on its prey, but in larger amounts.

Edit: I fixed some of the shading, especially with regards to the light. I also fixed the tentacle tips to be more obviously suction-cupped, and more equal.
Image size
1251x2382px 1.12 MB
Make
Canon
Model
MP Navigator EX 1.0
© 2009 - 2024 Shed-senpai
Comments9
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That is a very nice piece of art!

However, Cradily is not a sea anemone. It is based on the Crinoid. It is a very ancient kind of animal that actually has relatives surviving to this day called Sea Lilies! The eerie abyssal eyes it has are actually situated IN the mouth! The markings on the head are presumably decoys meant to look like normal eyes. The mouth is on top because the arms, which wave around in the water like flower petals in the wind, guide food caught in the stream to it. Its previous form is a more scientifically accurate depiction of these animals. I got the impression Cradily is meant to be more armored looking than its younger self, since it's such a tank. Although Cradily can use its stubby roots to suction cup to the ground, Sea Lilies in real life drag their base behind them and walk using their arms. It might be cool to see Cradily doing this when it really wants to move fast (although, I admit, fast in a very modest manner LOL)

Now you know! So, if you ever do another awesome picture of one of my favorite pokemon, you at least know which animal Credily is supposed to be derived from!