With a body closely resembling a living skeleton, Kabutops has a half-moon, disc shaped head, with two small, forward facing eyes. Its body has a light gray chest plate with a brown shell resembling a visible backbone, containing three ribs protruding on each side and a thick pointed tail. It does not have hands, but large, sharp, gray scythes. Its legs are brown and thin, leading into small feet with two large gray claws.
Kabutops can tuck in its shell to help it swim extremely fast in its ocean home, where it can catch prey. It uses its sharp scythes to cut enemies and drink their internal fluids. Before it went extinct, it was in the process of evolving into a land dweller in order to catch prey that had already evolved into land dwelling species. As seen in the anime, Kabutops greatly prefer to live in seclusion, and will become very hostile when provoked.
A giant Kabutops also appeared in Pokémon Heroes: Latios & Latias. Oakley used ancient DNA to resurrect a Kabutops and an Aerodactyl to chase after Ash and Latias. In the English dub, they were once used by an evil Pokémon Trainer to torment the civilians of Alto Mare, but were drowned when a Latios brought water to the city. They have blank, yellow-tinted eyes with no pupils and are lined with a thick black outline.
Omanyte and Omastar, Kabuto and Kabutops. It is believed these Pokémon became extinct tens of thousands of years ago. The details of their behavior are shrouded in mystery. Though some have speculated that they may still exist, none of these Pokémon have ever been seen alive.
In Capital Kabutops, Brock possesses a Kabutops in his team. He explains that he met Kabutops at the Pewter Museum when Pewter City was invaded during the Elite Four saga, and has since then become a powerful fighter employing ancient attacks.
Kabutops swam underwater to hunt for its prey in ancient times. The Pokémon was apparently evolving from being a water-dweller to living on land as evident from the beginnings of change in its gills and legs.
Kabutops once swam underwater to hunt for prey. It was apparently evolving from being a water dweller to living on land as evident from changes in its gills and legs.
Kabutops swam underwater to hunt for its prey in ancient times. The Pokémon was apparently evolving from being a water-dweller to living on land as evident from the beginnings of change in its gills and legs.
Kabutops has a scientific name, Kabutops maximus, which was stated in Fossil Fools. The only other Pokémon with a known scientific name is Oddish, with Oddium Wanderus. The name Kabutops maximus does have a real meaning; when translated, it means "the largest kabuto-face", referring to the size and shape of Kabutops's head.
Similarly to how Kabuto is based on horseshoe crabs, Kabutops resembles eurypterids, prehistoric arthropods which hunted in seas and rivers and are believed to have been related to modern horseshoe crabs. The large head is also identical to the cephalon in trilobites and the spines down the back resemble thoracic sections in trilobites, though the scythes and predatory nature much more closely resemble eurypterids. Because of these cross-similarities, it may also be based on the Cheirurus genus of trilobites.
Name origin
Kabutops's name derives from both the Japanese words 兜 kabuto (helmet) and 兜蟹 kabutogani (horseshoe crab). The end of its name may derive from the Greek word ops (face), or it might refer to the living fossil triops or the fact that its helmet is now on the top of its head and no longer covers its whole body.
For other sprites and images, please see Kabutops images on the Bulbagarden Archives.
