SALMONS SALMONS
Real Name: Salmons (first name unrevealed)
Identity/Class: Semi-humanoid-icthyoid (possible extraterrestrial planet, alien realm and/or alternate reality; see comments)
Occupation: Police Officer (presumably an inspector
if he was partnered with Gill)
Group Membership: Fish
Police
Affiliations: The chief of police, possibly
S.H.A.R.K.;
he thought Gill was a jerk but was otherwise forced
to work with him
Enemies: Hook;
presumably S.Q.U.I.D.
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Police station - unidentified
city
First Appearance: Fish
Police#5 (October, 1986);
(Marvel) Fish Police#5 (February, 1993)
Powers/Abilities:
Salmons could swim and breathe underwater.
He presumably had some investigative
skills and experience in armed (notably with a pistol) and unarmed
combat
History:
(Fish Police#5 - BTS) - Officer Salmons was once partnered with Officer
Gill, which lasted for a single day.
Salmons disliked Gill and felt like he always smelled like beer.
At some point,
Salmons caught Gill trying to stuff rifle shells into the barrel of his
own pistol.
(Fish Police#6 (fb) - BTS) - After six hours of working
alongside Gill, Salmons begged the chief for a reassignment. 
(Fish Police#5) - Salmons was present in the office of the
chief of police when the chief -- having told by a high-ranking agent of
S.H.A.R.K. to praise Gill -- called Gill and complimented him on his
recent mission where he apparently infiltrated the rival organization.
While the chief told Gill that the whole department was buzzing about
what he had done, Salmons asked who Gill was.
As the Chief continued to talk to Gill on the phone, Salmons recalled that Gill was the "weird guy" who always smelled like beer, after which he shouted out, "Guy's a jerk!" The Chief admonished Salmons to keep his voice down.
After the Chief continued to praise Gill, Salmons started talking about how he had caught Gill trying to stuff rifle shells into his pistol, and he asked the chief where he got these guys. The chief shushed him again, but after he hung up the phone, Salmons sat on his desk and asked him if he believed one word of what he had just said. The chief assured Salmons that he did not, but that he was going along with what a high-ranking agent of S.H.A.R.K. had told him to do. The chief then told Salmons to get his butt off of his desk.
(Fish Police#10 (fb) - BTS) - Seeking vengeance for Gill
having stood up to him (refusing to murder two girls while he had
inadvertently infiltrated S.H.A.R.K.'s rival
organization, S.Q.U.I.D.), Hook,
the leader of S.Q.U.I.D., started killing off
those with any connection to Gill, including Salmons.
(Fish Police#6 (fb) - BTS) - A stingray was left on the
front steps of the police station with a note stating, "Salmons
now sleeps with the scum at the bottom of the ocean."
(Fish Police#6 - BTS) - Disturbed after receiving this, the chief shared the information with Gill, who was upset, noting that they had been partners and were pals. The chief countered that Salmons had begged him for a reassignment after having been teamed with Gill for only six hours. Gill nonetheless continued that he had loved Salmons and that Salmons would have done anything for him. The Chief corrected him that Salmons would have done anything to get away from him.
After Gill told the chief that he had
to put him on the case as it was personal, the chief told him that was
exactly why he couldn't be on it. After mispronouncing Salmons as
"Simmons," the chief appreciated that Gill was planning on going out of
control on some blood-ranged mission of revenge again, and Gill
confirmed this, adding that he would do it in his spare time.
After Gill left, the chief took the
hook out of the box on his desk and stated that they already knew who
the murderer was.
The story centers Inspector Gill, a fish detective who, it is hinted at, had once been a human. He is met by a female fish named Angel, who tells him that her uncle has developed a drug called Hairballs. The uncle, Calamari, meets Gill and tells him that he will trade Hairballs for his niece.
Fish
Police Color Special#1 makes it clearer, albeit only slightly. It's set
prior to the series, an origin story as it were, and reveals that
Inspector Gill wasn't always a fish. Though it never explicitly states
what he was, it's implied he was a human, as he remembers having legs.
Somehow he finds himself suddenly in Fish City where everyone else
remembers him as Inspector Gill. On p23 he speculates whether he's been
transported to an alien world, slipped into an alternate universe, or
was always a fish and just thought he used to be something else.
--Loki
Fish Police started in 1985 as a self-published black-and-white title by Moncuse through his own Fishwrap Productions. After 11 issues, the title was picked up by Comico in 1987, which reprinted issues #1–4 in a trade titled Hairballs, followed by color reprints of the publication's remaining issues. Comico also printed a special prequel issue, and continued the series with number #12.
After issue #17, Comico went bankrupt. Fish Police was then acquired by Apple Comics, The new series continued the numbering begun by Comico, but the comic reverted to black-and-white. Apple published the title until early 1991, when the run ended with number #26. Apart from the main series, Apple Comics printed an issue #0 which featured an early draft of the stories seen in issues #1–5. In 1992–1993, Marvel Comics reprinted the first six issues in color.
Apple published a six-issue spin-off, Fish Shticks, written by Moncuse and drawn by Steve Hauk, between 1992 and 1993. This series was more gag-based than the original. In 2010, Moncuse began the work on a new Fish Police title, set 20 years after the end of the original. IDW Publishing reprinted the first four Fishwrap issues in a trade in February 2011. A new story written and drawn by Moncuse, titled "F.P.B.C.", appeared in Dark Horse Presents issue #22, published in March 2013.
Hanna-Barbera Productions adapted Fish Police into an animated television series that was first broadcast on CBS in 1992, lasting only six episodes over one season. The show was canceled after only three episodes, with the remaining three episodes not airing in the United States. Fish Police had a decidedly more mature tone than most other animated Hanna-Barbera series, containing innuendo and mild language. It also featured several guest actors, including Ed Asner, John Ritter, Tim Curry, Héctor Elizondo, Buddy Hackett, Megan Mullally, Robert Guillaume, and JoBeth Williams.
The series reminds me of Kip Adotta's song "Wet
Dream," which is a series of fish puns and innuendos.
I only read #5, 6 and 10 for this profile.
S.H.A.R.K. was apparently a S.H.I.E.L.D.-esque
government agency that worked with the Fish Police, while S.Q.U.I.D. was a
rival organization.
SQUID is like Hydra -
in #1 we even see their logo, which looks like Hydra's logo except with
a squid instead of the skull. A letter in #5 of the Fishwrap run asks
what SQUID stands for, and gets a silly response (Self Contained
Underwater Breathing Apparatus, which of course spells SCUBA, not
SQUID), which makes me think it's unlikely they ever actually explained
what it stood for. I think you are right in likening SHARK to SHIELD.
The Fish Police are not SHARK, as the last couple of issues of the
series overall mention SHARK merging with the Fish Police once SQUID is
defeated.
--Loki
This profile was
completed 07/07/2026, but
its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 25th
anniversary 's celebratory event.
Thanks to Loki for suggesting Salmons to represent
the Fish Police stories and characters.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Officer
Salmons should be
distinguished from:
First posted: 09/28/2026
Last updated: 07/07/2026
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
Copyright info
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