Ocellaris Clownfish

Appearance

This clown anemonefish can be recognised by its orange colour with three white bars and black markings on the fins. It grows to about eight centimeters in length. One can differentiate between Percula and Ocellaris by their respective colors and patterns. Ocellaris are usually less vibrantly colored, and have 11 dorsal fin-spines instead of 10, as on the Percula. Also, the species have different eye arrangements: Percula have bright orange irises, making their eyes appear smaller, whereas Ocellaris have grey/orange irises which make the species eyes appear bigger.

There is a rare melanistic variety hailing from the reefs around Darwin, Australia, that is a darker color with the normal white stripes. Although not common in the wild, they are becoming more and more popular in the aquarium hobby.

Cultural

The 2003 Pixar film, Finding Nemo featured a duo of clown fish, Nemo a juvenile clownfish, the title character/Marlin's son, and Marlin as Nemo's overprotective father. Nemo's mother, Coral, was also a clownfish but only featured at the beginning of the film before being killed by a barracuda.