Maurico is the Sea Urchin Prince. He does not understand girls very much, nor does he make it a point to understand them. However, he loves to mischievously scare girls with his thorny crown. He likes to be known as a "bad boy", but everyone knows that deep down, Maurico is a good boy. From time to time, he has some very annoying discussions with Tubarina, causing Miss Marla to punish the two of them.
Character history[]
In The Big Game, Maurico is forming a team for the Flubberball Little League. He allows Marcello and Hugo to join his team, but not Polvina, Ester or Tubarina, claiming that the Little League "is not for girls". When the Shark King states that there is an opening for one more team, Maurico and Ester have a play-off to determine which of their teams can enter the Little League, but they become so focused on winning for themselves that they end up losing the ball as it falls into the Abysmal Kingdom. After their ball is eaten by an anglerfish, Maurico and Ester encounter Bia, who is having trouble with two giant squids fighting and throwing mud at each other. When Bia fails to stop their argument, Ester jumps in and flings the mud back at the squids, with Maurico joining when he sees that the squids are too fast for her. After the squids stop fighting and leave, Bia takes Maurico and Ester back to Salacia. By the time they rejoin their friends, however, they end up missing out on their spot in the league, having been taken by the other four. Maurico and Ester are allowed to rejoin the team as towel boy and water girl.
In the books[]
In A Shadow in the Water, Maurico appears excited when he hears that the class will be going to Sea Park on the weekend. The day before the trip, he comes to class late after a shark apparently got in his way. Tubarina becomes provoked by his account and proceeds to argue with him and Ester, leading them to be grounded from going to Sea Park with the rest of the class.
The next day, Maurico, Ester and Tubarina are joined by Polvina as they are looked after by Mr Lorenzo, a shark who can speak Salacian. When Maurico gets into an argument with Ester and Tubarina, Polvina breaks it up and reveals to them that Mr Lorenzo is actually blind, which the shark confirms. Mr Lorenzo is able to sense where Maurico is and whether he is sitting down or standing up.
When a cloud of black goop covers Salacia and the Shark King has the camouflage activated, the group and Mr Lorenzo find themselves locked within the school as a Drylander diver appears to close in them. Tubarina breaks a window and heads out to rescue Felipe, a baby shark, from whom they learn that the Drylander was actually trying to help him, not hunt him.
As Mr Lorenzo offers to take Felipe up to Dryland, Polvina and the others go to warn the Shark King before he sends the sharks to attack the Drylanders. After gluing sand on some cut-up rugs to conceal themselves from the Drylanders, Polvina and Maurico go to find Miss Marla, who had stopped on the way to Sea Park with the class. They convince the Shark King to cancel the attack just as Ester and Tubarina arrive, having commandeered some sharks stationed in the Shark Kingdom. They allow the animals affected by the black goop to be taken up to the Drylanders, knowing that there are not enough resources in Salacia available to help everyone.
Over the next few weeks, life gradually returns to normal in Salacia. In a rare display of empathy, Maurico gives Tubarina a few words of encouragement when she becomes saddened over when Mr Lorenzo and Felipe will return. When Felipe returns and tells the girls and Maurico that Mr Lorenzo had "pardoned" them of their punishment, Maurico is finally able to go to Sea Park again with the rest of the class.
In Mystery at the Sea School, Maurico's homework was apparently eaten by a lionfish, but Tubarina and the rest of the class do not believe him. Subsequently, Tubarina's homework was eaten by a solefish and Tata's homework was eaten by a sea snake. Later, Polvina reveals that a mimic octopus was responsible for taking their homework.
Notes[]
- In the books, Maurico is shown to have a rivalry with Tubarina, yet in The Big Game, he is shown to have a rivalry with Ester.