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Cloyster has a spiky shell, which is used to protect its soft insides from foes. Its "head" and face resemble a black pearl.
Gender differences
None.
Special abilities
Cloyster balance their Defense with their offence. Their defense is very high but their offense is also pretty decent. They fight by clamping their shell tightly while jettisoning spikes from their shell to attack opponents.
Behavior
Cloyster are clever and sneaky Pokémon, they viciously rush at prey shooting at them with spikes. They fight rough because of the nature of their habitat and because their shell is so hard they can stand Pysical blows easily.
Habitat
Cloyster live deep under the sea. Usually on the seabed or amongst coral and rocks.
Misty battled against a Cloyster in The Bridge Bike Gang. Interestingly, its pre-evolution, Shellder, also made its debut in this episode, even though these two were not related or knew each other in any way.
Cloyster reappeared again in Lorelei's attempt to defend Seven Island. It is then remarked that Cloyster is the strongest fighter Lorelei has in her arsenal.
Cloyster is capable of swimming in the sea. It does so by swallowing water, then jetting it out toward the rear. This Pokémon shoots spikes from its shell using the same system.
Cloyster is capable of swimming in the sea. It does so by swallowing water, then jetting it out toward the rear. This Pokémon shoots spikes from its shell using the same system.
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During Cloyster's Red/Blue sprites, the shell opens up and down, unlike its later sprites which have the shell going left to right. Also, its horn is missing, although the place where the horn normally is is clearly visible on the left (or Cloyster's right); since the bottom part is normal except that it is on the right, it seems as if the head inside has merely rotated, rather than the body being the wrong way around.
Cloyster's core looks like a fangless Gastly. Coincidentally, in the National Dex order, Gastly is the next Pokémon after Cloyster.
Origin
It appears to be based off of a bivalve with a black pearl as its head.
Name origin
Cloyster's name may be a combination of cloister, to seclude or shelter oneself, and oyster. It could also be a combination of clam and oyster. Its Japanese name may be a combination of パール pearl and シェル shell.
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.