Megalodontia

"That's orange... Its hunger knows no bounds. I'd say more, but I'll just shut my trap and let you focus on staying OUT of that thing's trap!"

- Mr. Grizz

Megalodontias are a type of King Salmonid that appear in Salmon Run Next Wave during an Xtrawave. They are the third type of King Salmonid to debut in, making its first appearance during the Big Run on 2 December 2023.

Description
A Megalodontia is the biggest King Salmonid in Splatoon 3, described to be "large enough to swallow a ship whole, should the mood take it."

Megalodontia shares close similarities to Maws, but is much bigger in size. It has white bulging eyes, similar to other King Salmonids, and blue hair. Around its jaw is a giant contraption resembling orthodontic braces. On the back of it are various nets as well as a big red bump with what looks like black bandages forming a cross on the back.

Behavior
Megalodontia will submerge and target a player. During that time, a large circle will follow the player, indicating where it will emerge. After a certain amount of time, the circle stops moving and Megalodontia will jump out soon after, swallowing anything that was in the circle, similar to a Maws. This attack is uniquely capable of splatting other Salmonids, including Boss Salmonids, who will drop Golden Eggs upon death.

The large bump on Megalodontia's back is its weak point. Attacks to this bump will deal more damage to it.

Tips

 * Megalodontia's back, the part with the weak point, always faces where it previously attacked. Players can use this knowledge to position themselves near the weak point before the next attack happens.
 * Players targeted by the attack should note where the previous attack happened and try to get the next attack to happen in a place where the weak point is exposed to the team or near Golden Eggs.
 * The Megalodontia's attack has the ability to take out other boss salmonids when it emerges. Targeted players can use this to their advantage by causing it to attack in an area with a large amount of boss salmonids.
 * When doing this, players should be mindful not to lure the Megalodontia into a location where its weak point is difficult to hit, or a location where a player may end up trapped.

Quotes
"Eyewitnesses report a new King Salmonid named Megalodontia. It's claimed to be the biggest so far – large enough to swallow a ship whole, should the mood take it. Grizzco speculate it may come ashore in early December… #Splatoon3"

- @NintendoEurope on Twitter

Rewards
Splatting Megalodontias 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

 * Despite being added in Version, due to a bug it is possible to get Megalodontia as the King Salmonid by replaying some job scenarios previously made in Version during a rotation with a random King Salmonid.
 * Megalodontia has the highest possible HP out of all Salmonids, with 65,000.
 * Similar to Maws, a player can escape from Megalodontia's bite attack if they are at the edge of its radius and moving with enough momentum.
 * While other King Salmonids are treated as generic terms (e.g. "a Cohozuna"), Megalodontia is treated as a proper noun, implying there is only one known member of its species.
 * Megalodontia is the only King Salmonid and one of the two Salmonid species as a whole along with the Slammin' Lid that can deliberately damage other Salmonids.

Etymology
Megalodontia, more commonly known as macrodontia is the condition of having one or several teeth too large for the jaw; the word is a portmanteau of the Greek words μεγάλο (megalo, large) and δόντι (dónti, tooth). Likely intended to reference the word megalodon, an extinct species of giant shark, which has the same root words as megalodontia.