Medusal Slurker

The Medusal Slurker is an enemy from Pikmin 3. It is a pink, floating, translucent, jellyfish-like enemy with two small serpentine eyes and a single antenna sprouting from its top that resembles a Seeding Dandelion. It has a green pouch inside its head for storing food. This pouch has an uvula-like appendage hanging from it, which it extends to the ground and expands to trap Pikmin and leaders. It is first fought in the Garden of Hope, and defeating it will free the Rock Pikmin it had in its body, allowing the player to use them.

Medusal Slurkers can be found with a variety of items in their pouches, including previously-trapped Pikmin, bomb rocks, fruits, and even Louie in DLC levels for Mission Mode. The one found in the Tropical Wilds conceals a Juicy Gaggle.

Although the swallowed Pikmin will not die directly from the enemy, they will be counted as "sunset fatalities" if the day ends before they are rescued. The Rock Pikmin encountered inside the first Medusal Slurker will never be counted as dead this way, and will be inside the enemy in all days until released.

Behavior
The Medusal Slurker is generally passive, usually minding its own business and floating gently above the ground, occasionally moving. However, when a leader or Pikmin approach, the Slurker will hover over where they are standing and drop its uvula-like appendage onto the ground, which expands to capture any Pikmin in its mucus-like structure. It will then suck them back into its transparent body and keep them for the rest of the day, unless the creature is defeated which will free the captured Pikmin. Unlike the similar Jellyfloats in, the Slurker does not digest captured Pikmin. It also can never be grounded by Pikmin and will merely shake off Pikmin when agitated by their attacks. It can only keep a maximum of 15 Pikmin in its body, and if it already has 15, it will just fly around without attempting to use its appendage again. It will also occasionally shuffle about in its flight to indicate its pouch is full.

Strategy
To defeat a Medusal Slurker, simply throw Pikmin at its gelatinous body and quickly call them back if it looks like it is about to shake. If they aren't called back, they will be shaken off and be left vulnerable to attack by the creature's uvula. Pikmin are also shaken off whenever the Medusal Slurker flies off in any direction. This is less predictable, so you should take caution. At the same time, the Pikmin that fall to the ground can usually get up before the creature returns to abduct them. Once defeated, the green core inside the creature will explode and it will fly up into the air. After a few seconds, its corpse will fall back to the ground.

The Medusal Slurker can be defeated with 10 hits from Rock Pikmin, making an all-Rock attack on the creature a much quicker strategy. Though floating, it may also be killed by a bomb rock, if one is precisely aimed. Using a bomb rock will not directly kill Pikmin inside the Slurker, but it will set off other bomb rocks that it holds.

Trivia

 * The Medusal Slurker is the first gelatinous enemy in the Pikmin series whose body doesn't completely dissolve after death, making it salvageable.
 * The Medusal Slurker was the first new enemy fightable in the E3 2012 demo. It required 7 Pikmin to carry, whereas in the final game, the corpse only takes 6.
 * It is also the only enemy with a corpse that requires 6 Pikmin to carry.
 * If all the Pikmin are trapped by one or more Medusal Slurkers, a Pikmin extinction will occur. This is most easily seen in Mission Mode and Bingo Battle.
 * Though the Medusal Slurker was one of the most advertised new enemies, it appears only twice in the Story Mode, one of which does not respawn, and once in Mission Mode (Tropical Forest Collect Treasure!) if DLC is not counted.
 * If a Medusal Slurker absorbs a White Pikmin, it won't get poisoned since it doesn't actually eat them.
 * The Medusal Slurker inside the cave where Rock Pikmin are found is the only non-boss enemy to trigger the boss intro musical cue. However, it triggers a milder version, the same heard when Pikmin first suffer from hazards.
 * Medusal Slurkers do not spawn with objects or Pikmin inside. Those that have them spawn alongside the items and absorb them once the day starts. This can be seen if one goes to a Slurker using the KopPad's radar and checks the TV screen as soon as the day starts, as well as during the intro to Silver Lake Remix.
 * The Medusal Slurker shares many traits with the jellyfloat species despite being from the umbloda family, having a similar hum-like cry that resembles the Greater Spotted Jellyfloat, and a similar means of attack, sucking up Pikmin and dissolving or absorbing them.