Metroid Database Bestiary

These mollusk-like creatures are relatively small, but can travel quite fast along the ground and have a remarkably durable shell. Owtches inhabit the shallow waters of Maridia, where they continuously forage for nourishment lodged within the porous soil. They have a single strong, purple-colored foot that helps them burrow into the ground and can quickly retreat beneath the sediment by repeatedly loosening and displacing wide patches of soil. When threatened, Owtches will erratically dive under the sediment and reemerge to stab any potential attacker with the sharp spikes on top of their shell. The experience can be keenly painful.

A well placed Super Missile can kill an Owtch in one hit, but they can also be killed with powerful beam weaponry, especially when combined with the Charge Beam. It is inefficient to try and attack these creatures with weaker beam weapons, but Power Bombs and the Screw Attack are quite effective.

While haphazard navigators are bound to discover Owtches, careful observers might be able to keep a safe distance and even see the tip of an Owtch’s center spike poking through the ground when they are in momentary hiding.

In Metroid Fusion, parasitically infected Owtches were shown crawling around the space station, and not restricted to underwater environments.