Released in cinemas in 2003, “Finding Nemo” follows the journey of clownfish Marlin as he crosses the sea in search of his missing son -Nemo- who was captured and placed in an aquarium. During this journey Marlin learns to take risks and allow Nemo to take care of himself - all very lovely. But - there’s a problem.
I’m not talking about the fact that almost no fish would take that much care of their young - that could be attributed to artistic license. The flaw I’m talking about is quite a big one; and it takes a bit of explaining.
Right at the start of the movie the female clownfish named Coral -Nemo’s mother- is killed by a barracuda that also
goes on to eat the clutch of eggs, with the exception of Nemo; thereby killing all of his un-hatched brothers. At this point some of you may have noticed that I just said brothers -oppose to brothers and sisters- that wasn’t a mistake. All clownfish are born male.
Clownfish are sequential hermaphrodites; meaning that after being born male they are able to simply change genders and become female. At one anemone there is generally one female fish and several males; however, this female will only mate with one of the males, the dominant male. In the event of the death of this female -i.e. Coral- the dominant male -i.e. Marlin- will simply switch genders and allow a new fish to become the dominant male, before proceeding to mate with him.
So the real question is, out of the millions, or even billions, of different species of fish available did the filmmakers choose to make Nemo and his dad clownfish? -- Beats me.
On a related note, after the release of the movie demand for pet clownfish soared, leading the species to disappear
entirely from some reefs; also, after seeing the film many aquarium owners decided to release fish from their aquariums into the ocean, but, in many cases the wrong oceans, leading to disruptions in food webs and further harming reefs worldwide.
I’m not talking about the fact that almost no fish would take that much care of their young - that could be attributed to artistic license. The flaw I’m talking about is quite a big one; and it takes a bit of explaining.
Right at the start of the movie the female clownfish named Coral -Nemo’s mother- is killed by a barracuda that also
goes on to eat the clutch of eggs, with the exception of Nemo; thereby killing all of his un-hatched brothers. At this point some of you may have noticed that I just said brothers -oppose to brothers and sisters- that wasn’t a mistake. All clownfish are born male.
Clownfish are sequential hermaphrodites; meaning that after being born male they are able to simply change genders and become female. At one anemone there is generally one female fish and several males; however, this female will only mate with one of the males, the dominant male. In the event of the death of this female -i.e. Coral- the dominant male -i.e. Marlin- will simply switch genders and allow a new fish to become the dominant male, before proceeding to mate with him.
So the real question is, out of the millions, or even billions, of different species of fish available did the filmmakers choose to make Nemo and his dad clownfish? -- Beats me.
On a related note, after the release of the movie demand for pet clownfish soared, leading the species to disappear
entirely from some reefs; also, after seeing the film many aquarium owners decided to release fish from their aquariums into the ocean, but, in many cases the wrong oceans, leading to disruptions in food webs and further harming reefs worldwide.