Nipper Plant

Nipper Plants, also known as White Piranhas , Walking Piranhas or Walking Piranas , are infant Piranha Plants. They are rather small and are usually white.

Super Mario Bros. 3
They first appeared in Super Mario Bros. 3, where they would patrol an area and jump up towards Mario or Luigi when he passes them. Nipper Plants can hop around, making it more difficult for the player to land safely, since the plants will harm Mario or Luigi if he attempts to stomp one. Instead, Nipper Plants can be defeated by Invincible Mario, Fire Mario's fireballs, Hammer Mario's hammers, Raccoon Mario's tail attack and Tanooki Mario's transformation. In subsequent remakes, they were re-colored pink rather than the usual white. In all versions, a jumping Nipper Plant is a recolor of two Muncher frames.

A sessile fire breathing variety is encountered at the end of World 7-8, called Fiery Walking Piranha. There is only one in the entirety of the game.

The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3
Nipper Plants make a few appearances in The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3. In these appearances, they behave much like their game counterparts in that they are capable of hopping around. On the show, Nipper Plants sport visible jaws that make them appear to be more menacing than their in-game counterparts. Their teeth are yellow and human-like, but number far more than a human's.

In "Reign Storm", Mario intends to send via Warp Pipe a letter to Princess Toadstool, in which he prompts her to return to the Mushroom Kingdom. However, a Nipper Plant that was taking shelter inside the Warp Pipe intercepts and eats Mario's letter. The Nipper Plant then travels to King Koopa to inform him about the letter's content.

In "A Toadally Magical Adventure", Cheatsy Koopa uses a Magic Wand to increase a Nipper Plant's size and sends it to attack Mario. However, the plant lunges at the Pipe Creature that was having Mario in its grip, accidentally releasing Mario. Of note is that Cheatsy only refers to the Nipper Plant as "Piranha Plant".

Super Mario Bros. Print World
Artwork of Nipper Plants appear in Super Mario Bros. Print World, but they are incorrectly labeled as Munchers, the similar, but black-colored enemy from Super Mario Bros. 3 (which the poses of the artwork are borrowed from). There is additional artwork of Mario jumping over a Nipper Plant, labeled as "Mario 1".

Nintendo Adventure Books
Wendy O. Koopa is revealed to have a pet Nipper Plant, which she keeps in a pot in her room, in Koopa Capers; the plant had shredded a note possibly pertaining to her whereabouts. If Luigi chooses to begin his search for the missing Koopaling by looking through her room, he accidentally wakes up the sleeping Nipper Plant when he tries to look under it. Some wild Nipper Plants later appear prowling the stairs leading up to the secret camp being used by Wendy and her rebellion.

Yoshi franchise
In Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island and its remake Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3, Nipper Plants do not jump at Yoshi and are much easier to defeat, but they appear in groups which adds to the challenge of defeating them. They hatch from Nipper Spores that slowly fall to earth and have no visible eyes. These Nipper Plants can be stomped or eaten and turned into eggs; their spores can also be swallowed, though no eggs will be produced as a result.

Nipper Plants and their spores reappear in Yoshi's Story, Yoshi's Island DS and Yoshi's New Island.

Nipper Plants reappear in Yoshi's Woolly World and Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World, acting the same as in previous games.

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
In Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Nipper Plants (under the name Chompweed ) cannot be battled. Rather than fighting Mario, they jump up and steal a few Coins if he gets too close. Stolen coins can not be recovered in the final game, but battle data for them still exists, suggesting that they may have been intended to be standard enemies at one point.

Super Princess Peach
Nipper Plants also made an appearance in Super Princess Peach, which were identical to the ones that appeared in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. A Gloom vibe-infused variety known as Sad Nipper Plants also appeared in this game.

Mario Kart Arcade GP
Some Nipper Plants made a cameo appearance in Mario Kart Arcade GP in the course Bananan Ruins. They are at the right side of the course. They also appear in the course Castle Wall.

Mario Tennis Aces
In Mario Tennis Aces, two Nipper Plants can be seen bouncing in the background of Petey Piranha's battle in the Forest Monster mission.

Trivia

 * In the Super Mario Mash-Up Pack in Minecraft, Peonies are replaced by a group of Nipper Plants.
 * A 2017 interview reveals that Nipper Plants were going to appear in Super Mario World, as shown in a prototype sprite sheet.