Ever since “Finding Nemo”, we’ve collectively fallen in love with the cute little anemonefish, also known as clownfish. Nemo and his dad are Ocellaris clownfish, bright orange with white stripes, and that’s probably the one you think about when you think of a clownfish. But there are over 30 different species of anemonefish, and they come in different shapes and colours.

Did you know that all anemonefishes begin their lives as males?  Once they grow bigger, the oldest and largest adult will switch sex and become the dominant egg-laying female of a group.

What all clownfish have in common is their choice of home. The anemone.

The anemones are cnidarians, they come in all different shapes and colours. And some of them make a perfect home for the anemonefish.

The anemones have tentacles coated in nematocysts, which makes them sting when in contact with other animals. However, when an anemonefish is ‘moving in’, they acclimatise and develop a covering layer of mucus on their bodies. The mucus acts as a shield against the stinging cells.

This phenomenon has created a beneficial relationship between the clownfish and the anemone.

Have you ever dived on a reef and had a closer look at these buddies? If so, you might have noticed that the anemonefish is quite protective. They don’t appear as scared at all and don’t hesitate to defend their home. The anemone and the fish benefit from each other as they exchange protection against predators.

The anemone also benefits from its residents by eating their food scraps and on top of that, they are getting their tentacles cleaned from parasites.

The relationship these two animals have evolved, is an amazing demonstration of how nature creates connections for survival amongst different creatures. 

Is this something we can learn from?

We make new discoveries every day about how we benefit and rely on the functioning of different ecosystems, such as the rainforests, the savannahs and of course, our coral reefs (read more about ecosystem services from coral reefs here: https://reefconnect.com.au/coral-reefs-and-ecosystem-services/).
We must do everything we can to maintain these ecosystems healthy and functioning for our own health and survival.