Shuckle is a Pokémon that resembles a small turtle. Its body is yellow and appears soft. Until they are in use, Shuckle's limbs appear limp. It is encased in a very hard red shell that has many holes in it. The holes in its shell are rimmed with white.
Rather than actively hunting and foraging for food like most other Pokémon, it collects Berries and stores them in its shell. The Berries inside are liquefied and fermented while they decompose by Shuckle's digestive juices, which it then consumes. Its digestive juices are also used to dissolve rocks so Shuckle can hide under them. It can be found in the mountains.
In A Better Pill to Swallow, an old man was harvesting the Berry Juice that multiple Shuckle make to create medicine. One that he befriended was a purple Shuckle whose Berry Juice attracted Pokémon to anyone who drank it. Because of this, Team Rocket made it their mission to steal it.
Shuckle, the Mold Pokémon. When Shuckle places organic materials in its husk-like shell, the items are transformed into a unique juice. Shuckle are naturally shy and are most often found hiding beneath rocks.
A Shuckle appeared in A Beastly Cold Reception, under the control of Orm. It was seen during his battles against Professor Oak, which he won with ease; and Oak's grandson Blue, which he eventually lost.
A Shuckle was seen under Lucy's command in Moving Past Milotic. She showed off her fair deftness by badly poisoning Emerald's Starmie, as well as taking a number of attacks, before being washed out by a Surf. She hasn't used her since.
Shuckle quietly hides itself under rocks, keeping its body concealed inside its hard shell while eating berries it has stored away. The berries mix with its body fluids to become a juice.
A Shuckle hides under rocks, keeping its body concealed inside its shell while eating stored berries. The berries mix with its body fluids to become a juice.
Shuckle quietly hides itself under rocks, keeping its body concealed inside its hard shell while eating berries it has stored away. The berries mix with its body fluids to become a juice.
Shuckle's stats have the greatest standard deviation of all Pokémon, with 103.21, meaning they're the most uneven out of all Pokémon. Due to this extreme distribution, it is either the best or in the bottom four of every base stat:
Shuckle has the lowest base HP stat of all Rock-type Pokémon, with only three other Pokémon, Shedinja, Wiglett and Diglett, having lower base HP.
Shuckle has the lowest base Attack stat of all Bug-type and Rock-type Pokémon, with two other Pokémon, Happiny and Chansey, tied for a lower base Attack.
Shuckle has the highest base Defense and Special Defense stats of all obtainable Pokémon.
Its Defense ties with MegaSteelix and Mega Aggron, but also ties with its Special Defense, which dwarfs the Special Defenses of Mega Steelix and Mega Aggron, granting it the highest average defense stats of all obtainable Pokémon.
Eternamax Eternatus has a Defense and Special Defense each at 250, but is not legitimately obtainable.
In Generation II, Shuckle can learn Sweet Scent via breeding, but not via TM.
Origin
Shuckle seems to be based on an endolith, an organism that lives inside porous rocks or animal shells. Given its category, the Mold Pokémon, Shuckle may be based on a fungus or mold variety of endolith. Its category could also allude to fungi such as cedar-apple rust, which bears a strong resemblance to Shuckle, or fungi-like slime molds.
Given its Bug typing, Shuckle may also draw inspiration from scale insects—small, shelled parasites that produce a sweet fluid called honeydew that attracts other insects. In particular, it may be based on the barnacle scale, with characteristics of actual barnacles. This species is part of the Coccidae family, also known as "tortoise scales", which may explain Shuckle's resemblance to a turtle or a tortoise. It could also be seen as a reference to the food fermentation process, with its Rock type alluding to the pottery used to store and ferment aliments in some cultures, and its Pokémon category referring to some fungi used in cultured foods.
Shuckle may also have been based on certain varieties of mollusk, as it shares some characteristics with them, including the shell, the muscular but limp-seeming feet, the use of acids to receive food or to break down obstacles, the liking for fermented foods, and living close to the water. Its worm-like aspect may also take inspiration from a nematode.
Name origin
Shuckle may be a combination of shuck (husk) or shackle and barnacle or turtle.
Tsubotsubo may be derived from 壺 tsubo (jar) and 富士壺 fujitsubo (acorn barnacle).
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.