Gumbo is a black anglerfish with a purple tail and purple fins. He is unlocked after completing Tank 3-3.
Involvement
Gumbo lures (only) Guppies and Breeders away from Aliens when they attack your Tank.
Story
Many critics of Gumbo say that he is a wolf in sheep's clothing... that he simply leads all of your guppies to one spot to make it easier for his alien friends to kill them all. Gumbo answers his critics by pointing out that the aliens have shown him no mercy in Tank 5. "I am not nor have I ever been a member of the Alien party!" says Gumbo.
Usefulness
Gumbo is useful in almost every Tank. Although he won't be as useful when two Aliens attack your tank, as Gumbo doesn't know where to take your Guppies/Breeders, especially when the Aliens are on opposite sides. However, it can make you lose the game, when an Alien will chase him, the Alien will easily eat all your fishes when Gumbo is not fast enough.
Trivia
- He is named after gumbo, a spicy chicken or seafood soup typically with okra or rice, popular in Cajun cooking.
- Some people actually think Gumbo is a female, as a male anglerfish cannot have an ilium (a modified dorsal fin, the end of which dangles before the mouth) nor an esca (the end of the ilium) and cannot be this size. Despite this, it is very unlikely that the creators of Insaniquarium would describe him as a male, then say that he is a female. This attribution of female-specific characteristics to a supposedly male creature is probably just a failure to research the matter properly, or else a desire to go with what works for the game, rather than realism.
- Another research failure is that only deep-water anglerfish (which cannot survive anywhere near the surface, much less in an aquarium) have bioluminescent escas; shallow-water varieties have escas resembling worms, as a light would be useless by day.
- Furthermore, since the esca is bioluminescent (due to symbiotic bacteria), it shines constantly; it cannot be switched on or off.
- His story says that some people think he is on the aliens' side, however, he explains that he hates aliens because they had shown him no mercy in tank 5.
- If you have this pet during the alien battle in your Virtual Tank, he'll lure your store-bought guppies. This is extremely weird, as they cannot be eaten.
- This is maybe because he doesn't know that.
- Gumbo's esca lights up in the Final Boss Fight only when aliens are summoned by Cyrax, but he doesn't swim around frantically.
- He resembles an angler fish from Typer Shark Deluxe, another game made by PopCap Games. It only appears on Abyss Mode when the player types the wrong letter and carries only a letter, just like piranhas, which is also an enemy on that game. The only difference is its speed and appearance, as it moves very fast and does not have an esca.