Fishman

It knows you're here.

The Fishman is a stealthy marine predator that excels at bushwhacking the player, a deadly counterpart to the Water Troll from Catacomb Abyss. They appear solely in Catacomb Apocalypse. They are noted for having one of the most aggressive combat styles of any enemy in the game, which, paired with their ability to become impossible to hit, makes them rather dangerous.

When submerged, the Fishman extends a single eyestalk above the water. When it attacks, it pops out of the water, revealing a green-skinned fish-head with a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth.

In Catacomb Apocalypse

It's coming...

Fishmen infest the waterways of The Water Node of Time, and are a formidable threat. While they only do 7 damage per hit, they attack extremely quickly (about three bites a second), and rely on a combat style of getting as close as they possibly can before biting the player repeatedly; a single Fishman can bring a full-health player down in about five seconds, and 2 or more at once can kill a player in the blink of an eye!

Even worse, they are utterly immune to pain states, meaning that once one gets close, only death will stop it from attacking.

The fact that they can submerge to become impossible to target can make them very dangerous, and turning around when you thought you were safe, only to see one of these piscene fiends closing in, mouth agape, can result in an unexpected jump-scare. They love to aggressively push inward, will not hesitate to use their ability to submerge to rapidly close in on the player's position.

OH GOD NO

The good news is that Fishmen are easily baited out of the water by getting close, and you can use this to back away and open fire to wear one down quickly. They're not especially tough, either, having 12 hit points. Staying mobile and avoiding being cornered is the key to beating Fishman encounters. The problem is that the level they appear in is absolutely full of the damned things, and they love to charge in on the player like a school of angry, humanoid piranhas. Backing off to clear distance is a good idea, since the Fishmen will still periodically surface to regain the player's position.

Thankfully, Fishmen have a major weakness: Due to their combat style, they love to get close, and from that range, an Xterminator fired off at point-blank range can kill them in a single lucky shot.

When destroyed, they overheat, before their eyes bug out and they violently explode.

Fishmen require the Green Jewel to detect on the Crystal Sphere. They show up as a dark green dot.

Trivia

• Fishmen rather resemble the Creature from the Black Lagoon.
• They are devoted man-eaters, as evidenced by the splash screens for Catacomb Apocalypse which has them lounging around.