None of the characters in the series speak; a form of gibberish speech is sometimes used, but most interactions involve hand signals and body language to convey what a character is thinking about. The show's main characters include: •
Zig is an anthropomorphic
brown hyena - naughty but very, very hungry, and best friends with Bernie. He will eat anything, especially Marina, who he frequently plots to capture for this purpose, but his schemes are often foiled by Sharko. He is often desperate and eager to eat Marina on sight, but is no better outside of his main motive. He has a comically dry and wheezy voice, and isn't romantically interested in anyone. In the episode "Viking Love", a Viking Woman is seen falling in love with Zig, and in another episode titled "Bad Hair Day", a dark-purple octopus can be seen falling in love with Zig in his disguise. Both of these relationships were not approved of by Zig. •
Sharko is an anthropomorphic
great white shark, who appears brutish and tough, but is also slightly dorky with a heart of gold. He loves Marina and will do anything to protect her from harm, which include Zig's schemes. He is portrayed as muscular and very strong: due to that, he has visible defined abs, a big chest with huge pecs (without nipples), and giant biceps. He is also a fan of table tennis. In spite of his devotion to Marina, he can sometimes occasionally cause trouble for himself. During the first few episodes of the series, he was unable to get around on the island and could only swim in the ocean. Later on, he is capable of walking on dry land using his tail fins as feet. •
Marina is a
mermaid with red hair, who is good-natured, naïve, bubbly and romantic – intrigued by anything new she encounters. She maintains a positive relationship with the other characters in the show (including Zig), although this makes her quite naive to Zig's intentions to eat her. She is portrayed as wearing a small living
sea star in her hair, whom has a crush on Bernie. Marina is also capable of walking on her tail (using her fins as feet). In season 4, she is gifted with magical sandals that grant her human legs and stretching abilities. •
Bernie is a red anthropomorphic
hermit crab, and Zig's best friend. He often collaborates in Zig's schemes to capture Marina, though holds no grudge against her or Sharko, in reality. He is often denoted as being quite smart, and capable of coming to the rescue when needed. He also has a crush on the Sea Star on Marina's head. He has his own spinoff series called
The Adventures of Bernie. Aside from the main characters, various episodes feature a variety of background and minor characters to the stories – jungle animals, aquatic lifeforms, and various human characters – in the first season, one of these human characters is portrayed as a Japanese cargo ship captain, who, as a running gag, frequently crashes his ship into the island and is forced to return home with a rubber dingy. Throughout the first season, several episodes featured the supporting character of
Neptune, based on the mythological
Roman god of the sea and portrayed as a vain, muscular
merman with numerous
killer whale henchmen, who competed with Sharko for Marina's love, despite her disliking him. He once trapped Marina with a sketchy contract. Marina despises him and often has to rely on Sharko and Zig to keep him at bay. The second season introduces
Poseidon, portrayed as a muscular, elderly merman, who served as Marina's adopted father in the episode "Father in Law", and an
amnesiac human
ATR 72 cargo plane pilot who often exhibits the behavior of a monkey due to his condition – the episode "Back to Civilization" revolves around a flashback, where the pilot has met up with actual simians. Also introduced in season 2 was a dark and evil wizard who lives inside the volcano on the island named Hades, with a cold flame on the top of his head. He possesses a crush on Marina and constantly attempts to seduce her, but always fails due to bad habits, hygiene, terrifying her and/or nastiness. When that fails, he attempts to use his many artifacts of dark magic to take Marina by force. He is considered a mutual enemy by Zig and Sharko, and his appearances usually kill enough conflict between the two to have them team up in order to protect Marina from him. Also, the second season introduces a new running gag, where another cargo plane suffers unfortunate rear cargo door button malfunction and frequently causing several crates to be ejected into the land. ==Episodes==