Maws

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

Appearance
Maws have fishing gear with them; when they are still in the ink, Maws have a fishing bobber poking out of the ink. Only their upper body can be seen, but they appear as large Salmonids with buckteeth, yellow eyes and are a dull pink color.

Gameplay
This Boss Salmonid moves around by swimming in its ink, where it is normally invulnerable, and move fast enough to keep up with swimming Inklings and Octolings. Maws attack by leaping mouth-first out of their ink, splatting any Inklings and Octolings that they catch in their jaws, and their attack is an instant splat. They are also very persistent when compared to other Salmonids and can swim up and down walls. When a Maws prepares to attack, a circular light gives away its position; if a bomb is thrown at or above the circle, it will eat the bomb when it jumps out of its ink and will be instantly splatted. Maws can also be splatted by shooting at it while it is out of its ink, but this is usually inefficient. The only weapon capable of damaging Maws while it's submerged is the Grizzco Splatana with its charged slash, which will destroy it in one hit. The fishing bobber Maws carries floats above the ink, allowing players to track its movements before it strikes.

The predictable movement of the Maws means it can be avoided easily and can be lured to the egg basket, allowing players to quickly collect the three Golden Eggs it will drop when splatted.

Situational behavior and phenomena

 * Maws target the player closest to it and do not switch targets until it leaps out of the ink, at which time it pursues another player if they are closer than its original target or if they splatted their previous target.
 * Maws can splat players when they have just taken off with the Inkjet.
 * 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 the player reacts quickly.
 * This is much more difficult in Splatoon 3 as a Maws will now pull the player towards it's mouth when it attacks.
 * 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.

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.

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

 * The Maws may be a reference to the movie Jaws; It's name and when the Maws jump up to splat players they look similar to the movie's iconic main image and title.
 * When introducing the different Boss Salmonids during the second training mission, 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 Salmonids that swim in ink like Inklings and Octolings.