The Clownfish

This brightly colored marine fish is among the popular fish for the marine aquarium. With its brilliant orange body and radiant white striped, the clownfish adds the perfect touch to a marine aquarium. The clownfish is found in almost every pet store that carries fish. The clownfish is a reef dweller and has developed an odd relationship with the sea anemone. The sea anemone provides shelter for the clownfish, without harming it, because the clownfish attracts other fish that the sea anemone will eat.

Size:
The clownfish is among a group of small fish called damselfish. The clownfish only reaches a maximum length of 5 inches. Despite their size, the clownfish shines brightly in a lit aquarium, and provides memorizing scenery for the human eye.

Life span:
Sadly the beautiful clownfish only lives 3 to 5 years in captivity, and sometimes even less in the wild.

Habitat:
The clownfish can be found in oceans all over the world. They are always located in reefs and never in open waters.

Threats:
The clownfish has a wide variety of predators in the ocean. This includes: octopus, larger fish, stingrays, reef sharks, eels, and other dweller of the reef. Humans are not threats to the clownfish because the clownfish is far too small for the human to consume for food, so we don’t hunt them.

Foods:
The clownfish will eat leftovers of other fish that their anemone ate and left small pieces unconsumed. The clownfish will also eat algae off of rocks and the bottom of the ocean.

Reproduction:
The female clownfish lays eggs instead of giving live birth like a couple other species of fish. They lay their eggs in patches usually found by rocks or in side of small caves away from predators that may want to eat them. It takes the fry, baby clownfish, about 5 days to hatch from their eggs. The fry will stay close to their parents until a couple weeks in age when they are old enough to fend for themselves.

Importance of the clownfish:
The clownfish plays an important role in the sea anemone’s life. Without the clownfish the sea anemone would have a tough time catching its food. The sea anemone is incapable of moving so it relies on the clownfish to attract other fish and lore them to the anemone. The anemone then catches the fish and devours it. After the anemone has eaten, the clownfish will collect the scraps left over for its food.