CLOWNFISH and ANEMONEFISH

	Clownfish encounters... What's in a name?

click on any image to enlarge
False clownfish	True clownfish	Pink anemonefish	Clarke's – orange var.	Orange anemonefish
Tomato – female	False clownfish	Orange-finned anemonefish	Spinecheek anemonefish	Pink anemonefish
Skunk anemonefish	orange-finned juv.	False clownfish	Saddleback anemonefish	White-bonnet anemonefish
Clarke's anemonefish	orange-finned juv.	Clarke's anemonefish	False clownfish	Skunk anemonefish
Int = intermediate | Juv = juvenile

Although we tend to call them all clownfish, the proper name for these beautiful fish is actually anemonefish. A few do rightfully hold the title of 'clown' but most earned it as a nickname based on their markings and waddling gait. All clownfish and anemonefish are part of the damselfish family. There are two genera and 28 species related along the Amphiprioninae family tree but the spinecheek anemonefish belongs to another genus of damselfish - premnas.

Found in most of the world’s oceans, the highest numbers are concentrated around the Indo-Pacific region. For example, there are 10 in Papua New Guinea but none in the Caribbean. The Seychelles and Maldives have their own indigenous species.

No matter what sea they are in, anemonefish live in a close symbiotic relationship with their host anemone. As they have no inbuilt defence mechanism they live permanently amongst the stinging tentacles and can develop a tolerance to variations in sting quality by darting in and out of a new host until they become immune.

Anemone fish also have that delightful characteristic of being able to change sex. As the juveniles mature they turn into little lads. There’ll be a gang of them all hanging around the Queen Mother and her consort – the oldest male in the group. As long as these two senior members are around, that’s the way things stay. The babes remain ‘sub-adults' until one of the adults dies and then the next one in the chain moves into the vacant slot. And if that means changing sex, no problem, they just get on with it.

What's in a name?

Rarely over 12 centimetres long, all clown and anemonefish are colourful with some form of decorative body markings. The way to distinguish which is which is to study those patterns. However, picking a true clownfish is much harder as there are both true and false clownfish.

The true clownfish has three white bars with the middle bar having a forward-projecting bulge. These bars have black margins of varying widths and can be very thick (see image 2 in the gallery). They also have 10 (rarely 9) dorsal spines.

The false clownfish also has three white bars, with the middle bar having a forward-projecting bulge. However, the black margins will be minimal or non-existant (image right). The false clownfish will have 11 (rarely 10) dorsal spines.