Clownfish Totally Explained

Everything about Anemonefish totally explained

Clownfish and anemonefish are fishes from the subfamily Amphiprioninae in the family Pomacentridae. About twenty eight species are recognized, of which one is in the genus Premnas, while the remaining are in the genus Amphiprion. In the wild they all form symbiotic relationships with sea anemones. Clownfish are overall yellow, orange, reddish or blackish, and many show white bars or patches. The largest species reach a length of 18 cm (7 in), while the smallest barely reach 10 cm (4 in).
Clownfish are native to wide ranges of the warm waters of the Indian and Pacific oceans, including the Great Barrier Reef and the Red Sea. While most species have restricted distributions, others are widespread. They are generally highly host specific, and especially the genera Heteractis and Stichodactyla, and the species Entacmaea quadricolor are frequent partners. The clownfish feeds on undigested matter which otherwise potentially could harm the sea anemone, and the faecal matter from the clownfish provides nutrient to the sea anemone. It has also been suggested that the activity of the clownfish results in greater water circulation around the sea anemone. In addition to providing food for the clownfish, the sea anemone also provides safety due to its poison.
Clownfish and certain damselfish are the only species of fishes that can avoid the potent poison of a sea anemone. There are several theories about how this is accomplished:

The mucous coating of the fish may be based on sugars rather than proteins. This would mean that anemones fail to recognize the fish as a potential food source and don't fire their nematocysts, or sting organelles.

The co-evolution of certain species of clownfish with specific anemone host species and may have acquired an immunity to the nematocysts and toxins of their host anemone. Experimentation has shown that Amphiprion percula may develop resistance to the toxin from Heteractis magnifica, but it isn't totally protected, since it was shown experimentally to die when its skin, devoid of mucus, was exposed to the nematocysts of its host Clownfish live in small groups inhabiting a single anemone. The group consist of a breeding pair, which cohabit with a few non-reproductive, "pre-pubescent", and smaller male clownfish. When the female dies, the dominant male changes sex and becomes the female. This life history strategy is known as sequential hermaphroditism. Because clownfish are all born as males, they're protandrous hermaphrodites (pro=first; androus=male). This is in contrast with another form of hermaphroditism, known as protogyny, in which all fish are born as females but can change to males later.
Clownfish lay eggs on any flat surface close to their host anemones. In the wild, clownfish spawn around the time of the full moon and the male parent guards them until they hatch about 6 to 10 days later, typically 2 hours after dusk. Clownfish are omnivorous: in the wild they eat live food such as algae, plankton, molluscs and crustacea; in captivity they can survive on live food, fish flakes and fish pellets. They feed mostly on copepods and mysids, and undigested food from their host anemones .
Depending on the species, clownfish can lay hundreds or thousands of eggs. Clownfish where the first species of marine ornamental fish to be successfully bred in captivity in large scale. It is one of a handful of marine ornamentals whose life cycle has been closed in captivity.

In the aquarium

Clownfish are a popular fishes for the reef aquarium. Clownfish are now tank-bred to lower the number taken from the wild. Compared to wild-caught clownfish, tank-bred clownfish are more disease resistant and also less affected by stress when introduced to the aquarium.
When a sea anemone isn't available in an aquarium, they may settle in some varieties of soft corals, or large polyp stony corals. If the fish settles in a coral, it could agitate the fish's skin, and, in some cases, may kill the coral. Once an anemone or coral has been adopted, the clownfish will defend it. As there's less pressure to forage for food in an aquarium, it's common for clownfish to remain within 2-4 inches of their host for an entire lifetime.

In popular media

The characters Marlin and Nemo in the Disney 2003 animated film Finding Nemo are ocellaris clownfish.

Species

Genus Amphiprion:

Genus Premnas:

Premnas biaculeatus - Maroon clownfish

Image:Clownfish-mileswu.jpg|Sebae anemonefish (Amphiprion sebae) and sea anemone in the Maldives. Image:anemonefishfiji.jpg|Tomato clownfish (Amphiprion frenatus) and sea anemone in Fiji. Image:Maldive_anemonefish.jpg|Maldive anemonefish (Amphiprion nigripes). It is sometimes called the Black-finned anemonefish due to its black pelvic and anal fins. Image:Pink Skunk Clownfish.jpg|Pink skunk clownfish (Amphiprion perideraion). Image:Amphiprion Species.JPG|Saddleback clownfish (Amphiprion polymnus) off Sulawesi, Indonesia. Image:Amphiprion sandaracinos.jpg|Yellow clownfish (Amphiprion sandaracinos) and sea anemone off Sulawesi, Indonesia. Image:Amphiprion clarkii.jpg|Yellowtail clownfish (Amphiprion clarkii) with sea anemone. Image:Amphiprion chrysopterus by NPS.jpg|Orange-fin anemonefish (Amphiprion chrysopterus) is one of the few anemonefishes with a white tail. Image:Bicinctus4.jpg|Twoband anemonefish (Amphiprion bicinctus). It is, as suggested by its alternative common name, Red Sea clownfish, almost entirely restricted to the Red Sea. Image:Amphiprion ocellaris.JPG|Clown anemonefish (Amphiprion ocellaris) occurs in a 'normal' orange and a melanistic blackish variant. The exact taxonomic status of the latter is unclear. Image:Amphiprion melanopus in Entacmaea quadricolor.jpg|Fire clownfish (Amphiprion melanopus) and sea anemone at the Great Barrier Reef. Image:Mclown.1.jpg|Maroon clownfish (Premnas biaculeatus), here with a tang, is the only member of the genus Premnas, and the largest species of clownfish. Further Information

Get more info on 'Anemonefish'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://clownfish.totallyexplained.com">Clownfish Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.