Snorkel Zombie

Snorkel Zombie is the twelfth zombie encountered in Adventure Mode. The Snorkel Zombie is able to submerge and progress underwater in the pool, avoiding hits from all plants except lobbed-shot plants. They will come up to eat any plants in their way; this is the only time they are vulnerable to normal shots.

Suburban Almanac Entry
 SNORKEL ZOMBIE 

Snorkel zombies can swim underwater.

Toughness: low

Special: submerges to avoid attacks

Only appears in the pool

Zombies don't breathe. They don't need air. So why does Snorkel Zombie need a snorkel to swim underwater? Answer: peer pressure.

Overview
The Snorkel Zombie absorbs 10 normal damage shots and its appearance changes upon an absorption of 5 normal damage shots before dying at 10 normal damage shots, but it does not degrade if it is killed underwater.

Appearances

 * Adventure Mode: 3-3, 3-4, 3-5, 3-7, 3-10
 * Mini-games: Zombiquarium, Big Trouble Little Zombie
 * Puzzle Mode: Last Stand: Pool, Last Stand: Endless
 * Survival Mode: all pool and fog levels
 * Co-op Mode: Co-op Pool, Co-op Hard Pool, Co-op Endless

Strategies
Aside from forcing them to come up to eat plants, there are several ways to kill Snorkel Zombies; they can be hit while underwater by or killed by instant kills such as Tangle Kelps, Doom-shrooms (which are woken by Coffee Beans), and others. The easiest way to combat them is by placing a Wall-nut, Tall-nut, or Pumpkin on a Lily Pad. When surfaced, they act like regular Ducky Tube Zombies, so they should not be too hard to kill. When they are surfaced, you can use a Snow Pea to slow them down.

More often that not, a player encountering Snorkel Zombies for the very first time will die several times before figuring out how to beat them. Among others, one strategy to beat them without luring them up to eat something is to use a Chomper on top of a Lily Pad. A bit expensive, but highly reusable and works very well. A second strategy is to simply use a Squash on a Lily Pad.

Another strategy is to use at least one catapult plant on the pool areas, as they can attack this zombie even if it is submerged. It is also a cheaper way to deal with them while getting the Don't Pea in the Pool achievement.

Zombiquarium mini-game
In the mini-game Zombiquarium the player spends five sun to feed them brains (up to three can be in the tank at a time) to the Snorkel Zombies, which produce sun in turn. The player can also use sun to buy more zombies or to buy the trophy and win the level. Just make sure to feed the Snorkel Zombies every couple of minutes; to tell when they are hungry, you can keep a brain floating in the tank and wait until they swim towards it. They will turn green when they get hungry, and will die if you do not feed them quickly.

You can also take advantages of playing this level to get the achievement Sunny Days, which requires the player to produce 8000 sun.

Trivia

 * The Snorkel Zombie should not be able to sink with armfloats on, but it still does it.
 * Also, the Ducky Tube Zombies sink to the bottom of the pool when dead, even though they have a ducky tube.
 * The Snorkel Zombie never appears on the fog levels of Adventure Mode. This is likely to avoid making the fog levels too troublesome.
 * Although being dead, therefore not having to breathe, it wears a snorkel, apparently due to "peer pressure".
 * The Snorkel Zombie will still do its bubbling animation underwater, even if it is in the middle of a Lily Pad.
 * The Snorkel Zombie is one of the five zombies that have eyewear, the others being the new Dancing Zombie, the Zombie Bobsled Team, the Newspaper Zombie, and the Pogo Zombie.
 * It is one of the two zombies with straps on their eyewear, the other being the Zombie Bobsled Team.
 * If it is killed when it is underwater, only its head will fall off and its body will not be shown. Also, no degrades are shown.
 * If it bites a Garlic, it will not make a disgusted face, but it will make the 'bleh' sound and move to another lane.
 * The Snorkel Zombie is the only zombie that produces sun in Zombiquarium.
 * It has an "I love brains" shirt on.
 * On the DS version, after it eats a plant, it speeds up, most likely frightened.
 * This applies to all other zombies after they encounter a plant.
 * The Snorkel Zombie is one of the Zombies not allowed in Versus Mode, for an obvious reason (cannot submerge in grass or pavement, so it would be senseless to have it available since Versus Mode is always the day setting). The other zombies not available in Versus Mode are the Imp, Dolphin Rider Zombie, Ducky Tube Zombie, Balloon Zombie, Zombie Bobsled Team, Backup Dancer, and Dr. Zomboss.
 * Its mask has a crack on it showing its eye, but underwater its eye is still open, therefore it can see underwater.
 * It is unknown why the Snorkel Zombie does not just swim under the Lily Pads.
 * If it swam under the Lily Pads, then it would bypass all your defenses, making the game unfair, and it would require the use of Cherry Bombs in 3x3 radius as it would be the only way to affect the Snorkel Zombie.
 * If a Snorkel Zombie dies from a lobbed-shot plant while it is underwater, then it is one of three zombies that can die without degrading, with the others being Bungee Zombie and Dolphin Rider Zombie (while riding its dolphin).
 * If a Snorkel Zombie dies before it gets in the water, it will disappear.
 * This also happens with the Dolphin Rider Zombie if it dies with its dolphin.