Tangle Kelp

Tangle Kelp is a single-use aquatic plant appearing in both main series Plants vs. Zombies series games. It drags the first zombie that make contact with it into water, killing the zombie and consuming itself in the process.

Origins
It is based on kelp, an aquatic algae with long, stringy leaves that have been known to tangle small fish.

Plants vs. Zombies
Tangle Kelp is unlocked by completing Level 3-3. It can only be planted in water, but will instantly kill any zombie that it abducts, regardless of health.

Plants vs. Zombies 2
Tangle Kelp is unlocked by defeating Big Wave Beach - Day 6, and is the world's exclusive plant along with Lily Pad. Its mechanic has been changed: When a zombie is spotted, it will first submerge for a few seconds before immobolizing the target and drowning it. If the target dies before this, Tangle Kelp will resurface until another enemy is in its sight. Once again, Tangle Kelp can only be planted in water, and it will be killed if the tide recedes below the tile it is placed on. Deep Sea Gargantuar cannot be killed by Tangle Kelp, regardless of health.

Killing ten zombies in a single level by using Tangle Kelps earns the player the achievement Undertow.

Almanac entry
===Plants vs. Zombies===

Tangle Kelp

Tangle Kelp are aquatic plants that pull the first zombie that nears them underwater.

Damage: massive Usage: single use, on contact Must be planted in water

"I'm totally invisible," Tangle Kelp thinks to himself. "I'll hide here just below the surface and nobody will see me." His friends tell him they can see him perfectly well, but he'll never change.

Cost: 25

Recharge:   slow

Plants vs. Zombies 2
Sun cost: 25

AREA: Single

RANGE: Touch

RECHARGE: Sluggish

Tangle Kelp are aquatic plants that pull the first zombie that nears them underwater.

Tangle Kelp likes to go deep. He majored in philosophy. Grab a root beer with him, and he'll go on and on about Nietzsche's "Thus Spoke Zucchini" or hold forth on Kant's "Critique of Petunia Reason." It's cool and all, but sometimes you just want to keep the conversation light. Sometimes you just want to talk about the temperature of the water.

Plant Food effect
When given Plant Food, Tangle Kelp will pull up to four random zombies underwater. Deep Sea Gargantuars can be targeted by Tangle Kelp, but cannot be killed regardless of health.

Costumed
It pulls up to five zombies underwater.

Strategies
Tangle Kelp's main advantage in comparison to other ground-based instant plants is the plant's relatively low cost, combined with fast recharge rate and independence from Lily Pad. Because of this, Tangle Kelp can be used as a specialized plant for guarding water lanes early on, when the player might have issue placing enough Lily Pads for offensive plant. Unfortunately, Tangle Kelp's limited effect plus its inability to be planted on land mean that it quickly loses its potential in the mid- to late-level. This means that when considering Tangle Kelp, the player will have to decide between early-game and late-game utility - a Lily Pad plus a Squash or Chili Bean will prove to be more flexible in most cases.

Plants vs. Zombies
Tangle Kelp are decently useful against Snorkel Zombies and Dolphin Rider Zombies, as it cannot be dodged by them under any circumstances. In the Fog levels, Tangle Kelp faces competition from Sea-shroom for the role of early pool defense, as the latter is a permanent standing plant and requires no sun to be planted.

Plants vs. Zombies 2
Tangle Kelp continues to see its usefulness be put under question, as the generally increased zombie density in normal level can render Tangle Kelp obsolete even faster. On the other hand, because the highly dangerous enemies in the Big Wave Beach means that an effective way to fight them in the early level is required, Tangle Kelp may be even more important than it was in the first game.

Tangle Kelp is highly useful against Zombot Sharktronic Sub, specifically on the third phase. When the Zombot initiates its vacuum attack, if a Tangle Kelp is placed in the range of the vacuum, it will wrap up the Zombot's jet engine, prematurely ending the attack and stunning Dr. Zomboss for a while. Tangle Kelp needs to be placed in tiles without other zombie however, as it will otherwise submerge and only resurface after everything else has been sucked.

General

 * Tangle Kelp is technically not a plant, but rather a member of the Protoctist Kingdom, organisms that do not fit into any other kingdoms. This makes it along with the first version of Grave Buster the only plant not to be in any members of the plant family.

Specific to Plants vs. Zombies

 * Tangle Kelp and Tall-nut are the only plants that Dolphin Rider Zombie cannot jump over.
 * Tangle Kelp, Spikeweed, Spikerock, and Coffee Bean are the only plants that zombies will never attempt to eat.
 * Tangle Kelp is one of the twelve plants that appear in the seed selection screen after the player gets the Grave Buster in the online version with the others being Ice-shroom, Lily Pad, Potato Mine, Threepeater, Doom-shroom, Jalapeno, Spikeweed, Torchwood, Tall-nut, Cactus, and Blover.

Specific to Plants vs. Zombies 2

 * Tangle Kelp is the fourth plant in this game that went through a major redesign. The other plants are Grave Buster, Spikeweed, and Starfruit.
 * In the Chinese version, it appears to be on land in the Almanac entry, but this is not the case in gameplay.
 * Lily Pad and Fisherman Zombie share this trait.
 * If Tangle Kelp attempts to pull down a zombie underwater and was pushed back by Chard Guard, Hurrikale or Primal Peashooter, the Tangle Kelp will "follow" that zombie then proceeds to its ambush once that zombie lands.