Carracosta is a reptilian Pokémon resembling a bipedal, blue-colored sea turtle. Its stomach is pale blue. It has deep blue rocky structures encrusted on its face, back, and the sides of its chest forming a "mask" and shell. Its flippers are long with black finger-like protrusions at the tips. Carracosta has a thick tail and short legs with two-toed feet.
Carracosta's flippers are powerful; with one slap, it can open a hole in the bottom of a tanker or knock out a foe. It once lived in the sea millions of years ago and is now considered extinct. It hides in its shell to imitate a boulder to ambush prey. Carracosta has extremely strong jaws, allowing it to eat steel frames and rocks, in addition to prey, devouring every last piece of flesh and shell or bone. This diet allows Carracosta to develop a thick and sturdy shell. Carracosta is an active hunter on both land and sea. However, it moves slowly on land, so once it finds prey on land, Carracosta drags it into the water to finish it off. It preys on Omanyte and Omastar.
Multiple Carracosta made their main series debut in a flashback in A Restoration Confrontation! Part 1. They defended a young Ferris and a Tirtouga from a flock of attacking Archen. They physically appeared in the follow-up episode, where the Tirtouga that Ferris befriended also evolved into one after being forcefully revived by Dr. Zager.
Carracosta, the Prototurtle Pokémon and the evolved form of Tirtouga. Living in the sea and on land, Carracosta has incredibly strong jaws and is capable of destroying a giant boulder with one powerful slap.
Before Generation VIII, Carracosta and its pre-evolved form had only been obtainable with their Hidden Ability in the Pokémon Dream World. Due to the closure of the Pokémon Global Link, they could no longer be obtained with their Hidden Ability, except by trading between games and breeding. The Tirtouga family's Hidden Ability can currently be obtained via the Ability Patch.
Carracosta's English category, "Prototurtle", may be a combination of proto- (prefix used to mean "original" or "primitive" derived from an Ancient Greek word meaning "first") and turtle.
Origin
Carracosta appears to draw inspiration from Archelon, the largest known species of sea turtle from the Late Cretaceous period. Its blue skin and dark gray carapace give it the same color scheme as the leatherback sea turtle. The fact it eats steel beams draws from the fact that sea turtles can bend metal bars with their jaws. The front of its shell also bears resemblance to a bulletproof vest.
Name origin
Carracosta may be a combination of carapace (a hard, protective covering, i.e. a shell) and costa (Latin, Spanish and Portuguese for coast). It may also allude to the Carrara fossil formation, which contains numerous trilobite fossils.
Abagoura may be a combination of 暴れる abareru (to thrash or act violently) or 肋 abara (rib cage) and 甲羅 kōra (shell).
For other sprites and images, please see Carracosta images on the Bulbagarden Archives.
