Paras is an orange, insectoid creature resembling the nymph stage of a cicada. Its ovoid body is segmented, and it has six pairs of legs. The foremost pair of legs is the largest and has sharp claws at the tips. There are five specks on its forehead and three teeth on either side of its mouth. It has circular eyes with large pupils.
Red-and-yellow mushrooms known as tochukaso grow on this Pokémon's back. The mushrooms can be removed at any time, and grow from spores that are doused on this Pokémon's back at birth by the mushroom on its mother's back. Tochukaso are parasitic in nature, drawing their nutrients from the host Paras's body in order to grow and exerting some command over the Pokémon's actions. For example, Paras drains nutrients from tree roots due to commands from the mushrooms. The mushrooms are also popular among collectors and have medicinal uses.
Paras can often be found in caves, but can also thrive in damp forests with high amounts of humidity where conditions are ideal for fungi. It is also very timid as shown in the anime when it runs away from a battle with a Charmeleon.
In the anime
Paras in the anime
Major appearances
Paras is featured in The Problem with Paras under the ownership of Cassandra. It is extremely weak, but Cassandra needed it to evolve into a Parasect so she can use the giant mushroom to aid in her medical research. It does so towards the end of the episode.
Minor appearances
Paras made its debut in Clefairy and the Moon Stone, in which a group of Paras can be briefly seen removing the mushrooms on their backs. Seymour explained that this behavior was due to someone stringing lights in the caves of Mt. Moon, and implied that this was not good for them.
Paras has parasitic mushrooms growing on its back called tochukaso. They grow large by drawing nutrients from this Bug Pokémon host. They are highly valued as a medicine for extending life.
A Paras has parasitic tochukaso mushrooms growing on its back. They grow by drawing nutrients from the host. They are valued as a medicine for long life.
On early English promotional material for Pokémon Red and Blue, Paras' name is listed as "Parasyte". The name may have been shortened to just "Paras" because Parasyte is the official English name of a graphic horror manga series.
In Generation I, Poison attacks are super effective against Bug, making Paras and Parasect the only Pokémon to have ever had three 4× weaknesses, as well as the only Pokémon to have had a 4× weakness to Poison.
Paras and Parasect are the only Pokémon in the game to take more than 4 times as much damage from any one type of attack under normal battle conditions (if they have the Ability Dry Skin, they both take 5× damage from Fire-type attacks).
The fungus on Paras is identified as tochukaso, an endoparasitoid that replaces the host tissue and can affect the behavior of its insect host. The base insect appears to be a cicada nymph.
Name origin
Paras is a shortening of parasite, referring to the parasitic mushroom growing on its back.
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.