Maws

Maws are Boss Salmonids that appear in Salmon Run and Salmon Run Next Wave in Splatoon 2 and Splatoon 3.

Description
Maws are large, coral-colored Salmonids that swim through the floor and walls in search of a player. They will not switch targets unless they re-submerge and find someone closer or if their old target is splatted. While underground, they are invulnerable, and a fishing bobber is visible in their place, making them easy to track. Once locked onto a location to jump out of, bright rings will appear. When they emerge, they leave an ink circle and splat any players caught in their jaws. If a bomb is thrown into the ring before they emerge, they will eat the bomb and be defeated. Shooting at it while exposed can splat it, but this is usually time-inefficient.

Quotes
The following text is quoted from the Salmonid Field Guide.


 * Basic Information
 * Lurks under the surface of the ink.
 * Can swim in ink to scale walls.


 * Attack Behavior
 * Appears from directly beneath its prey and swallows it in an instant.


 * Elimination
 * You can deal damage by shooting ink at it when it surfaces to attack, but defeating it this way will take some time as it is rather robust.
 * To bring it down in one fell swoop, trick it into swallowing a bomb by placing one at its point of attack.


 * Supporting Information
 * In order to sustain its large size it must perpetually roam around searching for prey to consume.
 * Uses sonar to detect the location of suitable prey whilst submerged.

Tips

 * The only weapon capable of damaging a submerged Maws is the Grizzco Splatana with its charged slash, which will destroy it in one hit.
 * You can also splat a submerged Maws with a Slammin' Lid.
 * The predictable movement of the Maws means it is easily avoided and can be lured to the egg basket, making it a quick source of Golden Eggs.
 * Maws can splat players when they have just taken off with the Inkjet or Booyah Bomb.
 * Players using the Splashdown while Maws are directly below them are splatted if they land in its jaws.
 * It is possible to escape a Maws' jaws if the player is not too close to the center of the Maws and reacts quickly.
 * This is much more difficult in Splatoon 3 as a Maws will now pull the player towards its mouth when it attacks.
 * Sometimes this flings the player over the Maws and can be used to get out of a tricky situation.
 * It is also possible to dodge roll out of a Maws' jaws using dualies.


 * A Maws will still be eliminated if it eats a player as well as a bomb at the same time, which can be used in a desperation situation if a player is unable to escape.
 * Maws cannot swim on grates and will follow the player using the ground below, or switch targets if the player is not reachable. They can, however, swim on uninkable terrain such as that found on Wahoo World during Big Run, and can surface to attack the player there as well.
 * Maws will swim up Fish Sticks to reach their targeted player and will surface to attack if the player is standing at the top.

Badges
Splatting Maws a specific number of times in Salmon Run: Next Wave will reward the player with special badges that they can use on their Splashtag.

Trivia

 * When introducing the different Boss Salmonids during the second training mission in Splatoon 2, Mr. Grizz refers to all of them as "it", except Maws, which he calls "she" and the Flyfish, which he calls "him". This makes them the only two Salmonids with a confirmed gender in the North American version.
 * In the North American version, Agent 8 refers to Maws as "erupting eel", as shown in its mem cake description.
 * Its behavior of leaping up out of ink and swallowing the player, as well as being splatted by swallowing a bomb, is very similar to that of the Octomaw, a boss in the Splatoon solo-player campaign.
 * Maws are the only known Salmonids that swim in ink like Inklings and Octolings.

Etymology
A maw is the name of the open jaws of a deadly animal, such as a shark, a sea creature which Maws mirror in behavior. The name being the plural form of "maw" may be a reference to the film Jaws, which starred a shark as an antagonist.