Mary's Monday Metazoan: He oughta be in movies

So THAT's where Nemo is!

(though I know that Nemo was a clownfish; are those the same?)

And his name has been borrowed in homage for a scientific endeavor that seeks to FIND and share new facts about brain and behavior: Neural Electromagnetic Ontologies (the NEMO project, google it, soon you too may be able to interrogate large-scale databases).

Sweet. Reminds me of when I was at Uni at James Cook; friends' flatmates were Marine Biologists and had a bunch of saltwater tanks in their lounge room - and one of them was doing research on clown fish.

We never watched tv when we were there - the tanks were far more entertaining.

*speaks to himself*
Mary´s Monday Metazoan, my new favourite...
*looks up, blushes*

Is he cold? He has a scarf around the neck.

You ought to be in pictures ... (gee, that shows my age; I still remember the song exists).

The big question of course is: is that fish any good simmered with vinegar, salt, and a few slivers of ginger? With marine species (fish and invertebrates) around the globe being depleted at such an astounding rate I'm looking into recipes for species such as puffer fish, 'portuguese man-of-war', and even various starfish.

I object to naming the fish 'Nemo'; he's nothing like Jules Verne's enigmatic captain of the Nautilus. Don't kids these days read real books? Come to think of it: don't kids these days read at all?

The Thai restaurant down on the corner has a salt-water aquarium, and a couple of those fish, but with a much darker, if also somewhat reddish, orange. They got a new shrimp the other day.

o look, tentacles. sort of.

Sorry, Ploon, that's not Nemo. His "lucky" left fin is the normal size.

It could be his father, Marvin, but he doesn't look neurotic enough for that.

Nemo and father were indeed spinecheek anemonfish. All anemonefish are clownfish, BTW. But apparently the spinecheek anemonefish doesn't belong to the subfamily of anemonefishes (Amphiprioninae) but to another genus of damselfishes: Premnas. Go figure - the joys of taxonomy before we had DNA identification of species.

Here's a picture from several hours later.

Kid in aquarium: "Is that Nemo?"
Parents: "Yes. Yes it is."

NO IT ISN'T, NO IT ISN'T, NO IT ISN'T! Oh, the rage!

"Kid in aquarium: "Is that Nemo?"
Parents: "Yes. Yes it is."

NO IT ISN'T, NO IT ISN'T, NO IT ISN'T! Oh, the rage!

When I was a kid I used to correct parents in planetariums and museums when I heard them misinforming their kids.

Funny thing, they didn't like it when I'd do that. Somehow they'd rather have their kids be misinformed than have them think their parents might be wrong about something.

If I'm not wrong, "Nemo" was supposed to be a clown anemonefish (Amphiprion percula). The similar-looking false clown anemonefish (A. ocellaris), is found in Australian waters, but not around the Great Barrier Reef.

Also, the spine-cheek anemonefish (Premnas biaculeatus) is actually a member of the Amphiprioninae, but is the sole species in its genus, all other anemonefish or clownfish belonging to the genus Amphiprion.

The ending Disney never wanted you to find out!
Nemo turns into a girl. But if the spine-cheek anemonefish is from another genus then it might not have the same life cycle right?

You scientists can't even come to agreement on a fish, yet you say you can tell how humans came into existance? On the irony!

Just kidding =P

Deep,

Wouldn't it have been Nemo's father that grew 20% and then became his mother whilst Nemo himself would have grown 20% and then become his father/mother's new breeding partner.

Would have been a much better film all round, I doubt Disney would have gone for it though.

Wouldn't it have been Nemo's father that grew 20% and then became his mother whilst Nemo himself would have grown 20% and then become his father/mother's new breeding partner.

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction!

Don't love this fish too much folks. They require coral reefs to survive. It's not at all clear that coral reefs can survive the quadruple whammy of pollution, overfishing, global warming, and ocean acidification.

<zaphod>And you baby, you oughta in movies</zaphod>

Don't love this fish too much folks. They require coral reefs to survive.

Clownfish are one of the easiest marine fish to keep in captivity, and they have been successfully bred in captivity... unlike so many marine aquarium fish which must be harvested from the ocean. So, in fact, if you are going to love a fish, clownfish are an excellent choice - much moreso than other marine critters.

IIRC, the only issue with tank-bred clownfish is that, in the absence of a big nasty ocean full of predators, they do not take to anemones as much as many people might like.

Keeping a marine aquarium is a lot of work, however, and not recommended for the novice aquarist.

Dammit, that was supposed to say "you oughtta be in real life."

related to the clownfish thing... Some years ago, I was in at my local supplier of marine aquarium paraphenalia. In the store he had a beautiful tank with a large (for an aquarium) carpet anemone.

Living with the anemone were 6 anemone fish... I don't remember the species, and it doesn't matter. While I was in the store, some parent came in with their 7-ish year old yard-ape. The kid was gawking at the tank, and then knocked on the glass like you would knock on a door.

The anemone immediately closed, and thereby killed 5 of the 6 fish.

Needless to say, a large argument ensued. The store owner felt that the parent should be on the hook for $500 - the retail price of the fish, since there were witnesses that the child deliberately banged on the glass. The parent didn't see it that way. I left before seeing the resolution.

There are probably plenty of stories about why children shouldn't be brought into aquarium and pet stores, but that one really sticks in my mind.

Beautiful picture!

It is indeed a beautiful vibrant picture...

MadScientist at #6: LOL!!! Glad to know that I am not the only one thinking of the gastronomic qualities whenever my eyes fall on any member of the piscean class...

That said, the clownfish appears to be a no mean gourmand itself. According to Wikipedia, The maroon clownfish (Premnas biaculeatus) likes frozen shrimp and herbivore preparations...

[QUOTE]Don't love this fish too much folks. They require coral reefs to survive. It's not at all clear that coral reefs can survive the quadruple whammy of pollution, overfishing, global warming, and ocean acidification.[/QUOTE]

Don't forget the increasing incidences of Red Tide. The East coast of the UAE has been devastated over the last year by several different forms of this. Once vibrant reefs are now deserted of 95% of the reef fish, and you struggle to see any Clowns about these days. Although the Cuttle Fish appear to be thriving for some reason, the blighters are everywhere and constantly breeding.

[QUOTE]Don't love this fish too much folks. They require coral reefs to survive. It's not at all clear that coral reefs can survive the quadruple whammy of pollution, overfishing, global warming, and ocean acidification.[/QUOTE]

Don't forget the increasing incidences of Red Tide. The East coast of the UAE has been devastated over the last year by several different forms of this. Once vibrant reefs are now deserted of 95% of the reef fish, and you struggle to see any Clowns about these days. Although the Cuttle Fish appear to be thriving for some reason, the blighters are everywhere and constantly breeding.

MadScientist,

They do. Unfortunately it's stuff like Twilight. Ah well - who am I to judge.

E.Squid,

That's a horrible story. But I want to laugh anyway ... Good thing I learnt this before visiting an aquarium.

Daniel,

It's a brace, not a scarf. He's looking for his lawyer so he can sue the anemone.

He oughta be in movies

What, that clown?

Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/6mb592

@10
brilliant.
@22
I know of a cuttlefish we could introduce the yard ape to, but his back would have to be to it…

Wait, wait. I know this...Finding Remo?
No, it's Nemo Williams: The Adventure Begins!

No? Now I'm all confuse-iddily-used.

Wait, wait. I know this...Finding Remo?
No, it's Nemo Williams: The Adventure Begins!

No? Now I'm all confuse-iddily-used.

It most certainly isn't Nemo or his dad, but that fellow has been in the movies.

That is a picture of William Kerwin who played Sheriff Ben Williams in the 1978 classic Barracuda, although some will more likely remember him from his cameo as Dermot in the hit NBC series Fame.

@#19.

Anyone who quotes the original radio series of Hitch-hiker's has my full respect. And that was my favourite episode.

TRiG.