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Finding Nemo brought a whole new light to one of the prettiest fish in the sea – clownfish. The movie also showed us what clownfish call home by making Nemo answer a science question. Nemo struggled to say the name of his home which is a sea anemone.
Clownfish use sea anemones as their home and a place to store their eggs. Most fish that swim near anemones are attacked by the sea anemone’s tentacles, but sea anemones and clownfish have a very special and close relationship. Clownfish have become immune to the stings by producing a thick layer of mucus that protects them from the tentacles. The anemone protects the clownfish and its home and as a favor, the clownfish can lure in other fish and eat dead tentacles to keep the anemone clean. Sounds like a pretty good trade-off!
Unfortunately, warming ocean waters are threatening anemone populations. Scientists have monitored 13 pairs of orange-fin anemonefish in the South Pacific. The fish were monitored before El Niño, an event where warm water in the west shifts eastward. Warming ocean events like this are expected to become more frequent. This could be detrimental to clownfish and sea anemones.
The weather incident caused bleaching to many corals in the area. To be exact, half of the anemones were bleached. Typically, anemones host algae inside their bodies. The anemone gives the algae carbon dioxide and nutrients and the algae provide the anemone with oxygen and glycerol. Both help the other and need each other to co-exist. However, when the water warms, the algae leave the anemone which causes the anemone to lose its color, gaining the term ‘bleached’ by coming bleached white.
No algae + no sea anemone = no clownfish ):
“Among the clownfish living in the bleached anemones, the scientists observed a drastic fall (-73%) in the number of viable eggs,” said a statement from France’s CNRS research institute. “These fish were laying eggs less frequently and they were also laying fewer and less viable eggs.”
Changes were only observed in the clownfish living in the bleached anemones. The fish’s blood samples also displayed a decrease in sex hormone and increase in stress levels. After the warming waters cooled down a little bit, the fish’s health levels improved. Fingers crossed the ocean temperatures stay down because we always want to find Nemo and not lose him!
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