Clownin' Around With Anemones

Clownin’ Around With Anemones

Perhaps the world’s best-known tropical fish due to the smashing success of Disney’s Finding Nemo, the clownfish, also known as an anemonefish, belongs to a family of fish that spend their entire lives in symbiosis with sea anemones. Their symbiotic relationship is a mutualistic one, in which both parties benefit from each other. The sea anemone offers protection to the fish in the tendrils of its body, as well as provides some of its food source from the scraps of its meals. In return, the fish wards off the anemone’s predators, removes parasites, and its waste provides nutrients for the anemone. There are 30 recognized species of clown/anemonefish, and although many of them are strikingly similar, each pairs with a specific type of anemone. Here are just a handful of those species, and the question is: can you find Nemo?