Comments

  1. Ploon says

    So THAT’s where Nemo is!

    (though I know that Nemo was a clownfish; are those the same?)

  2. MacT says

    And his name has been borrowed in homage for a scientific endeavor that seeks to FIND and share new facts about brain and behavior: Neural Electromagnetic Ontologies (the NEMO project, google it, soon you too may be able to interrogate large-scale databases).

  3. Wowbagger, OM says

    Sweet. Reminds me of when I was at Uni at James Cook; friends’ flatmates were Marine Biologists and had a bunch of saltwater tanks in their lounge room – and one of them was doing research on clown fish.

    We never watched tv when we were there – the tanks were far more entertaining.

  4. Yoeruek says

    *speaks to himself*
    Mary´s Monday Metazoan, my new favourite…
    *looks up, blushes*

  5. MadScientist says

    You ought to be in pictures … (gee, that shows my age; I still remember the song exists).

    The big question of course is: is that fish any good simmered with vinegar, salt, and a few slivers of ginger? With marine species (fish and invertebrates) around the globe being depleted at such an astounding rate I’m looking into recipes for species such as puffer fish, ‘portuguese man-of-war’, and even various starfish.

    I object to naming the fish ‘Nemo’; he’s nothing like Jules Verne’s enigmatic captain of the Nautilus. Don’t kids these days read real books? Come to think of it: don’t kids these days read at all?

  6. MAJeff says

    The Thai restaurant down on the corner has a salt-water aquarium, and a couple of those fish, but with a much darker, if also somewhat reddish, orange. They got a new shrimp the other day.

  7. says

    Sorry, Ploon, that’s not Nemo. His “lucky” left fin is the normal size.

    It could be his father, Marvin, but he doesn’t look neurotic enough for that.

    Nemo and father were indeed spinecheek anemonfish. All anemonefish are clownfish, BTW. But apparently the spinecheek anemonefish doesn’t belong to the subfamily of anemonefishes (Amphiprioninae) but to another genus of damselfishes: Premnas. Go figure – the joys of taxonomy before we had DNA identification of species.

  8. Jafafa Hots says

    “Kid in aquarium: “Is that Nemo?”
    Parents: “Yes. Yes it is.”

    NO IT ISN’T, NO IT ISN’T, NO IT ISN’T! Oh, the rage!

    When I was a kid I used to correct parents in planetariums and museums when I heard them misinforming their kids.

    Funny thing, they didn’t like it when I’d do that. Somehow they’d rather have their kids be misinformed than have them think their parents might be wrong about something.

  9. says

    If I’m not wrong, “Nemo” was supposed to be a clown anemonefish (Amphiprion percula). The similar-looking false clown anemonefish (A. ocellaris), is found in Australian waters, but not around the Great Barrier Reef.

    Also, the spine-cheek anemonefish (Premnas biaculeatus) is actually a member of the Amphiprioninae, but is the sole species in its genus, all other anemonefish or clownfish belonging to the genus Amphiprion.

  10. says

    The ending Disney never wanted you to find out!
    Nemo turns into a girl. But if the spine-cheek anemonefish is from another genus then it might not have the same life cycle right?

  11. Jeff says

    You scientists can’t even come to agreement on a fish, yet you say you can tell how humans came into existance? On the irony!

    Just kidding =P

  12. balagan says

    Deep,

    Wouldn’t it have been Nemo’s father that grew 20% and then became his mother whilst Nemo himself would have grown 20% and then become his father/mother’s new breeding partner.

    Would have been a much better film all round, I doubt Disney would have gone for it though.

  13. Lilly de Lure says

    Wouldn’t it have been Nemo’s father that grew 20% and then became his mother whilst Nemo himself would have grown 20% and then become his father/mother’s new breeding partner.

    Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction!

  14. llewelly says

    Don’t love this fish too much folks. They require coral reefs to survive. It’s not at all clear that coral reefs can survive the quadruple whammy of pollution, overfishing, global warming, and ocean acidification.

  15. says

    Don’t love this fish too much folks. They require coral reefs to survive.

    Clownfish are one of the easiest marine fish to keep in captivity, and they have been successfully bred in captivity… unlike so many marine aquarium fish which must be harvested from the ocean. So, in fact, if you are going to love a fish, clownfish are an excellent choice – much moreso than other marine critters.

    IIRC, the only issue with tank-bred clownfish is that, in the absence of a big nasty ocean full of predators, they do not take to anemones as much as many people might like.

    Keeping a marine aquarium is a lot of work, however, and not recommended for the novice aquarist.

  16. says

    related to the clownfish thing… Some years ago, I was in at my local supplier of marine aquarium paraphenalia. In the store he had a beautiful tank with a large (for an aquarium) carpet anemone.

    Living with the anemone were 6 anemone fish… I don’t remember the species, and it doesn’t matter. While I was in the store, some parent came in with their 7-ish year old yard-ape. The kid was gawking at the tank, and then knocked on the glass like you would knock on a door.

    The anemone immediately closed, and thereby killed 5 of the 6 fish.

    Needless to say, a large argument ensued. The store owner felt that the parent should be on the hook for $500 – the retail price of the fish, since there were witnesses that the child deliberately banged on the glass. The parent didn’t see it that way. I left before seeing the resolution.

    There are probably plenty of stories about why children shouldn’t be brought into aquarium and pet stores, but that one really sticks in my mind.

  17. balagan says

    [QUOTE]Don’t love this fish too much folks. They require coral reefs to survive. It’s not at all clear that coral reefs can survive the quadruple whammy of pollution, overfishing, global warming, and ocean acidification.[/QUOTE]

    Don’t forget the increasing incidences of Red Tide. The East coast of the UAE has been devastated over the last year by several different forms of this. Once vibrant reefs are now deserted of 95% of the reef fish, and you struggle to see any Clowns about these days. Although the Cuttle Fish appear to be thriving for some reason, the blighters are everywhere and constantly breeding.

  18. balagan says

    [QUOTE]Don’t love this fish too much folks. They require coral reefs to survive. It’s not at all clear that coral reefs can survive the quadruple whammy of pollution, overfishing, global warming, and ocean acidification.[/QUOTE]

    Don’t forget the increasing incidences of Red Tide. The East coast of the UAE has been devastated over the last year by several different forms of this. Once vibrant reefs are now deserted of 95% of the reef fish, and you struggle to see any Clowns about these days. Although the Cuttle Fish appear to be thriving for some reason, the blighters are everywhere and constantly breeding.

  19. Sili says

    MadScientist,

    They do. Unfortunately it’s stuff like Twilight. Ah well – who am I to judge.

    E.Squid,

    That’s a horrible story. But I want to laugh anyway … Good thing I learnt this before visiting an aquarium.

    Daniel,

    It’s a brace, not a scarf. He’s looking for his lawyer so he can sue the anemone.

  20. dez says

    @10
    brilliant.
    @22
    I know of a cuttlefish we could introduce the yard ape to, but his back would have to be to it…

  21. Bone Oboe says

    Wait, wait. I know this…Finding Remo?
    No, it’s Nemo Williams: The Adventure Begins!

    No? Now I’m all confuse-iddily-used.

  22. Bone Oboe says

    Wait, wait. I know this…Finding Remo?
    No, it’s Nemo Williams: The Adventure Begins!

    No? Now I’m all confuse-iddily-used.

  23. Twisted_Colour says

    It most certainly isn’t Nemo or his dad, but that fellow has been in the movies.

    That is a picture of William Kerwin who played Sheriff Ben Williams in the 1978 classic Barracuda, although some will more likely remember him from his cameo as Dermot in the hit NBC series Fame.

  24. says

    @#19.

    Anyone who quotes the original radio series of Hitch-hiker’s has my full respect. And that was my favourite episode.

    TRiG.