Orange+Clown+Fish

=﻿Orange Clownfish =


 * = Kingdom: ||= Animalia ||
 * = Phylum: ||= Chordata ||
 * = Class: ||= Actinopterygii ||
 * = Order: ||= Perciformes ||
 * = Family: ||= Pomacentridae ||
 * = Genus: ||= Amphirion ||
 * = Species: ||= A. Percula ||

__Basic Information: __ //Amphirion Percula can be found throughout the Indo-Pacific region. They are saltwater fish who are also known as anemone fish. They are known as such because of the symbiotic relationship they create with sea anemones. Symbiosis refers to the biological process of two dissimilar organisms living together and in this case it would be the Orange Clown fish and the water-dwelling flower like predator.[1][4]//

__<span style="color: #ff4c00; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Habitat: __ Orange Clownfish live within a sea anemone, their thick skin allows them to live within such an environment. They began their symbiotic relationship with the sea anemone by brushing up against it so that their skin gets use to the shocks that the sea anemone give off to warn of predators. Unlike other Clownfish, the Orange Clownfish has sensors that allow them to specifically choose a certain anemone.[1]

__<span style="color: #ff4c00; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Physiology: __ The Orange Clownfish has orange skin with three white stripes across its body with little black stripes around the white stripes seperating the two colors. Orange Clownfish can be 4.33 inches in length. Their reproductive organs allow them to double their populations by less than 15 months. In addition, their skin is covered with a thick coat that allows them to make symbiotic relationships with anemones, without it they would not be able to withstand the poison from it.

Clownfish like to eat many things such as plankton and algae and eat any left over food from the sea anemone's stung prey.[1]

__<span style="color: #ff4c00; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Species Interaction: ____﻿__

Clownfish have special interactions with sea anemones, as stated before they cohabit within the arms of the sea anemone. Thanks to their skin that is covered with a protective type of coat, they are able to make this relationship so that the sea anemone's poison does not affect them. The coat of mucus they create around their skin is done during the first years of their life, they do this every time they move into a new anemone. Interestingly, they also serve as mutualists as they eat the dead tentacles of the sea anemone.[1][3]

__<span style="color: #ff4c00; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Reproduction: __

<span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> Clownfish live very interesting mating behaviors. They are hermaphrodites, so they have both the female and male genitalia. Their reproductive system revolves around hierarchy, where the female is the largest and the male is the 2nd largest (Females dominate in the relationship). It is a 0-4 ratio, only 2 will mate and the rest will grow smaller in size. The weird thing is that when/if the female was to die, the male would become the high female and the Clownfish who was the 3rd largest male would now become the highest male and reproduce with the Clownfish who became the female. During this monogamous relationship, they are able to mate all year long. Now that the female is pregnant, the male Clownfish's behavior changes, they take on the weight of getting the nest ready, which is created on a patch of bare rock under the anemone, and taking care of the little newborns when they arrive. The male Clownfish prepares the nest by cleaning it with his mouth and when its ready the female spawns over it so that the eggs are laid into it. Throughout the process of incubation, the male Clownfish makes sure to care for the eggs from predators and moves away debris as well as dead eggs.[1][2]

__<span style="color: #ff4c00; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">In Film: __

In 2003, Walt Disney Pictures came into production with Pixar to create a fun filled family movie entitled Finding Nemo. Finding Nemo tells the story about a father, Marlon and his song, Nemo, who find themselves separated by scuba divers during an outing with a school of fish. With the help of Marlon's new friend Dori, both venture out into the deep blue ocean in search of Nemo. Many of the visuals in Finding Nemo are closely tied to make everything realistic, the makers of the movie made sure to be as accurate as possible. Some examples seen within the movie were how Marlon and his wife lived in the anemone. Also, the drawings of the Clownfish featured in the video were made to be accurate as they are in real life. In the movie, Marlon is a very worrisome father, which is true in the behavior of the real male Clownfish as stated before during and after the incubation stage of development father's are the ones who become very protective of their young. Although, we learned that there is a hierarchy within the Clownfish, this was not directly shown within the movie. However, an important part mention in the movie was the symbiotic relationship that Clownfish have with the anemone...I believe the term Marlon used to tell Nemo to do so was "Make sure to brush up."[5][1]

Another interesting fact is that after the movie, sales for Clowfish around the world went up. Everyone wanted a Clownfish, this also makes another point in case, where Clownfish have also helped stimulate our economy.

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 * By Oswaldo Guzman**

__<span style="color: #ff4c00; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Sources: __

**1.Biological Profiles: Orange Clownfish**
=== **[]** **2.Saltwater Fish: Orange Clownfish** [] **3.Tree Houses: Orange Clownfish**  ===