Family name: Pomacentridae
Order name: Perciformes
Common name: Clownfish / clown anemonefish
Scientific name: Amphiprion percula

Clownfish are native to wide ranges of the warm waters of the Indian and Pacific oceans, including Andaman Sea. The clownfish feeds on undigested matter which otherwise potentially could harm the sea anemone, and the faecal matter from the clownfish provides nutrient to the sea anemone. It has also been suggested that the activity of the clownfish results in greater water circulation around the sea anemone. In addition to providing food for the clownfish, the sea anemone also provides safety due to its poison.

Clownfish live in small groups inhabiting a single anemone each. Most always a breeding pair, consisting of a single mating female and one mating male, cohabit with a few non-mating smaller male fish. When the dominant female dies, the dominant male changes sex and becomes the female. They exhibit a sexual life style known as sequential hermaphroditism, and specifically the protandrous form where they begin as males and can later in life switch to using functioning female gonads.

Clownfish lay eggs on any flat surface close to or under the protection of their host anemones. In the wild, clownfish spawn around the time of the full moon and the male parent guards them until they hatch about 6 to 10 days later, typically 2 hours after darkness starts.

Clownfish are omnivorous: in the wild they eat live food such as algae, plankton, molluscs and crustacea; in captivity they can survive on live meat, fish flakes and fish pellets. They feed mostly on copepods and mysids, and the undigested excrement from their host anemones.

The diet of the clownfish suggest that it is an opportunistic diner rather than a predator. It can wait until the anemone has stung and eaten its prey and then it gobbles up the leftovers, whether these pieces have not been eaten, or take the form of undigested excrement. It is also known to eat dead anemone tentacles, plankton, molluscs, crustacea and certain parasites that it finds on its host's body.

There are so many destinations for diving with Nemo that is pointless to name them all. However, here's a selection of dive destinations that offers a wide variety of anemonefish: Phi Phi Islands | Phuket | Koh Samui | Similans

source Reference: www.dive-the-world.com & wikipedia.org

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