Featured Image Credit: moviepilot.com
By: Amanda Kelley
Who’s excited for the new Finding Dory movie?? I know I am.
Image source: Giphy.com
But all this hype and excitement over the newest Disney/Pixar release is exactly what has conservationists worried about Dory’s real-life counterpart, the blue tang.
You see, after the rousing success of Finding Nemo in 2003, everyone wanted their own personal Nemo. Seeing the trend in demand, exotic fish suppliers around the world re-enacted the scene from the original movie where Nemo was plucked from the reef and tossed in a plastic bag to be put on display in a personal aquarium. Talk about irony.
Few people are aware that 90% of marine specimens found in aquarium shops are taken from the wild. With declining reef fish populations due to rising sea temperatures and coral bleaching, these fish don’t need to add “kidnapping” to their list of problems.
Image source: PADI.com
The problem is that the owners of these fish don’t realize that these exotic species aren’t as hardy as your average goldfish or beta fish. They are hypersensitive to factors like salinity and temperature, and when you own a saltwater aquarium you need to do more than toss in some food in order to care for it properly. So after being kidnapped, these fish are likely to… *ahem* go “belly up,” due to poor handling.
Lucky for us, the clownfish have been relatively resilient. Their ability to breed in captivity has taken some of the pressure off of wild populations, and helped their cause. The problem isn’t personal aquariums per say – the problem is maintaining proper care and realizing which fish species do well and which don’t. Blue tangs like Dory have not successfully bred in captivity, meaning that the only supply for aquariums is in the ocean.
So let’s all go see Finding Dory AND ensure that these beautiful fish can remain wild and free!
Find out more about saving Dory from our sources here and here.