Clown Anemone fish: Of the 'Finding Nemo' Fame

‘Where’s Nemo?’ Nemo as in ‘a-nemo-ne’ fish. Poor Nemo, doesn’t have a name of his own. Even the name ‘anemone fish’ is borrowed from his host, the sea anemone. He is better known as ‘clownfish’ because of his gaudy, clown-like markings and his ungainly swimming motion.

But not only did Nemo inspire writer-director Andrew Stanton to create the animation film, “Finding Nemo,” he’ll get you as well – hook, line and sinker - as you take a peek into his real life.

One, he is called anemone fish because he lives a symbiotic existence among the poisonous tentacles of the sea anemone. He is immune to the poison due to a coating of the anemone’s mucous over his scales, thus tricking the anemone into thinking it is part of itself.

But there’s more - when predators chase the anemone fish, a poor swimmer, he simply takes refuge among the waving tentacles of the sea anemone. However, he does lose his immunity to the anemone’s tentacles when away from it for over a day.

Anemonefish feed on plankton and the anemone’s parasites as well as leftovers of their host. On the other hand, the anemones themselves not only benefit from the food dropped by the feeding fish but also by the increased water circulation caused by the fish’s movements among the tentacles, thus providing the anemone with oxygen.

A family unit of anemone fish occupies a single anemone. During breeding, the males become aggressive and select a nesting site on a bare rock or even inside the anemone’s mouth! You guessed it - the eggs are also coated with the anemone’s mucous.

After the female releases the eggs into the nest, the male fertilizes them and tends over them.

Just because Nemo is a fish and a clown, you may assume that he has an uninteresting life. But this clown wears two masks - all clown fish are born male and can change sex at will!

Anemone fish have dormant reproductive organs inside them to become female when the occasion calls for it. When a female dies, the dominant male changes into a female and a non-dominant male takes over as the dominant male.

Its not surprising that the biggest threat to Nemo is the aquarium trade but not only are they found in abundance in their natural habitat, they breed very well in captivity too.

Copyright © 2007 Noël Gama
www.noelgama.com