Did you know? #4: A study on Finding Nemo's aquarium fish

Finding Nemo is, perhaps, one of Pixar's most cherished motion pictures worldwide. This "Best Animated Film Academy Award" winner was released in the year 2003, and it set the record for the highest-grossing opening weekend for an animated film, rounding up over 70 million dollars.

The movie mostly takes place in the ocean, where two of the three main characters (Marlin and Dory) meet many different sea creatures while searching for Marlin's lost son, Nemo. Of course, what they don't know is that Nemo has been taken by a dentist who puts him in his dentist office's aquarium, (at P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney) amongst other previously trapped fish.

Animal Kingdom's Finding Nemo - The Musical

P. Sherman's visor tag

Not only is the movie exciting and the sea landscapes breathtaking, but it's the fine choice and creation of its characters what really brings life into the film. In fact, the characters became so popular that the sales of Clownfish and other tropical marine fish in America skyrocketed after the movie was released. Nevertheless, since these fish are naturally free marine sea creatures it became a problem for the ecosystems, mainly because the extreme extraction of tropical fish caused a reef species decimation in countries such as Vanuatu.

In Walt Disney World Resort's Epcot Park there is an attraction called "The Living Seas", which directs most of its components towards the Finding Nemo film. There are a couple of tanks holding real life species of all the Finding Nemo fish tank characters: Nemo and Marlin, Dory, Deb/Flo, Bubbles, Gill, Bloat, Pearl, Gurgle and Jacques. In the next section, you will find detailed information about each of these character's family group, species, habitat and other curious things you might want to know.

Nemo, Marlin and Dory's friends say HI!

A lot of Finding Nemo's marine characters at Sydney

All the aquarium characters mentioned above are tropical marine fishes, each belonging to a different group and family. This makes them part of the sea creatures living in the 77% of Earth's surface. A main problem with these fish living in tanks is that these species have very little tolerance to even the slightest change of their water conditions, both in salinity, temperature and cleanliness. Here's a little on each of these fellows:

1. Nemo and Marlin: Common Clownfish
-Group: Anemonefishes   -Family: Pomacentridae
-Species: Amphiprion ocellaris

This fish's common habitat is coral reefs throughout the Indo-Pacific Ocean. This type of Clownfish has three black-edged white bands across its yellow/orange body. It will chase out other fish from its chosen territory.

2. Deb/Flo: Black-Tailed Humbug
-Group: Damselfishes   -Family: Pomacentridae
-Species: Dascyllus melanurus

This fish inhabitates corals around the Western Pacific Ocean. The Black-Tailed Humbug has a white body with three dark stripes, with the tip of its tail creating a fourth stripe. Like most members of its genus or group, this fish is never far away from corals in the wild.

3. Dory: Regal Tang
-Group: Sturgeons and Tangs   -Family: Acanthuridae
-Species: Paracanthurus hepatus

The Regal Tang lives in coastal reefs from East Africa towards the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It has a blue body with dark blue markings and a yellow triangle on its tail. This fish is very active, thus requires plenty of space for its own. His color may fade while aging.

4. Bubbles: Yellow Tang
-Group: Sturgeons and Tangs   -Family: Acanthuridae
-Species: Zebrasoma flavescens

This fish's natural habitat is shallow waters, particularly around Hawaii. Its all-yellow body gives him a velvety appearance due to the small scales. In Hawaii, these fish are called Lau'i-pala, possibly because of their similarity to a shovel.

5. Gurgle: Royal Gramma
-Group: Basses and Groupers   -Family: Serranidae
-Species: Gramma loreto

The Royal Gramma's natural habit is coral reef caves of the Caribbean Sea. This particular fish has a vivid body coloration, split between bright yellow on its rear and violet up in front. Males from this species protect a spawning cave and breed with various females daily.

6. Bloat: Long-Spined Porcupinefish
-Group: Porcupinefishes and Pufferfishes   -Family: Diodontidae
-Species: Diodon holocanthus

This fish tends to inhabitate seaweed and near-shore rocky beds both in the Indo-Pacific and Atlantic Ocean. It has a golden/brown body with a paler bottom side and can usually have dark dots too. The Porcupinefish carries its spines folded against his body, but will inflate himself when frightened.

7. Gill: Moorish Idol
-Group: Zanclidae   -Family: Zanclidae
-Species: Zanclus canescens

The Moorish Idol lives in coral reefs throughout the Indo-Pacific Sea. His black and white striped body also features dashes of yellow near the tail and snout. Its dorsal fin has very long, extended rays which are also black, white and yellow.

8. Peach: Pink Sea Star
-Group: Asteroidea   -Family: Asteriidae
-Species: Pisaster brevispinus

The Pink Sea Star's usual habitat is coral reefs. Due to its bright pink coloring it becomes an easy prey in darker environments; that is why it has the ability to stay on the corals and blend in. As all other starfishes, this species also has the ability to regenerate fully from a separate part of a sea star.

9. Jacques: Pacific Cleaner Shrimp
-Group: Malacostraca   -Family: Hippolytidae
-Species: Lysmata amboinensis

This shrimp species inhabitates the reef ecosystems, specially in the Red Sea and the Indo-Pacific. Its body is bright red on the top and white on the bottom. The cleaner shrimp has long antennaes, which he uses to eat dead tissue and parasites off other fish, thus "cleansing" such fish.

All of the information and facts about Finding Nemo's aquarium fish found above were taken from the book "Aquarium Fish" by Eyewitness Handbooks.

Did you know? #3: Pirates Of The Caribbean's Pirates Dice

Pirates Dice, "a game of high seas deception" (as read on the game box by Disney Friendly Games), is a must for everyone; especially pirate wannabes, Pirates Of The Caribbean fans and people who enjoy playing board games.

Pirates Dice is inspired by the original game, Liar's Dice, thought to have its roots on South American cultures, and becoming a very popular game among pirates since the sixteenth century. It is a bluffing game for two or more players where each of them gets a cup with five regular dice. No real skills are required to play, but you must understand the rules in order to make smart moves... So YES. Luck is quite appreciated.

Pirate Dice

"A game of high seas deception"

Pirate Dice is a main part in the plot of Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. The game plays both a drastic and crucial part in the course of action aboard Davy Jones's Flying Dutchman. This is basically how the scene goes:

Will Turner wanders through the ship at nighttime and spots the crew playing the game at a corner. His father, Bootstrap Bill, explains to him in a simple way how the game is played. Will then challenges Davy Jones to a match by betting his soul: If he lost, he would stay on The Flying Dutchman as part of Jones's crew. If he won, Davy Jones would have to give him the key drawn in a piece of parchment that he held. Never having lost a game, Jones accepts the challenge. As they play, Bootstrap Bill joins the game as well. When Will is about to lose, Bootstrap loses on purpose, preventing his son from having to pay his debt. Davy Jones then sentences Bootstrap Bill to serve an eternity on The Flying Dutchman. Here's a video with the scene:

Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

The famous Pirates Dice scene

Although Pirates Dice's rules differ a little from Liar's Dice, both are suitable for a gameplay including bets or not. This is how to play by Pirate Dice's rules:

All the players shake their cups with the dice inside and turn them upside down. You can only see your own dice (unless you decide to cheat, which is up to you… After all, you are a pirate). The first player will announce two numbers: The first addressing how many dice he is referring to, and the second meaning the number written in such dice. For example: "5 3's" or "five threes" would mean he thinks, in total, there are five dice in the table holding the number three on top.

The next player will have to announce either a matching first number with a higher second number, a higher first number with a matching second number, or both numbers higher. It is not allowed for a player to lower a number once it has been set by a previous player. For example: If Player A said "5 3's", Player B cannot say "5 2's" or "4 3's".

Also, a player can't simply agree with the previous call during his turn. He must always choose between betting higher or calling it a bluff. The fun part is that any player can point another player's announcement as a cheat during the opponent's turn by saying "Never trust a pirate!" (in this part, I like to add a little "Aaarghh!!!" at the end of the sentence). If the one accused of cheating was telling the truth, the accuser must withdraw one of his dice from the cup. On the other hand, if the player was caught bluffing, he must be the one to take out one of his dice. This game will go on until the last pirate standing wins!

A life-or-death matter

Davy Jones and Will Turner playing Pirates Dice

The point of the game is being able to cheat without being noticed and being smart enough to discover those who cheat. The art of bluffing in this game may take a lot of practicing. Beginners are most likely to be caught cheating than more experienced players; but don't you worry. If you have some pirate soul in you, I'm sure you'll be ready to master the game!

Did you know? #2: Top 10 songs not to play at a funeral

Just as there are songs that remind us of great moments in life, there are others that... let's just say they don't exactly enlighten us about death. That's right. A funeral is a moment of grief where people mourn their dearly departed: a serious situation in need for serious behavior. The following list contains the Top 10 songs not to play at a funeral, deemed less appropiate for this kind of event:

1. I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor
2. Ding Dong The With Is Dead (from The Wizard of Oz)
3. Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go - Wham!
4. I Wanna Live Forever - Bon Jovi
5. I Touch Myself - Divinyls
6. Another One Bites The Dust - Queen
7. I Wanna Piss On You - GG Allin
8. I Can't Live - Mariah Carey
9. Highway To Hell - AC/DC
10. Don't Fear The Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult

I think most of these songs (if not all) are self-explanatory as to why they're terrible picks for a funeral march. Other than a poor music selection for the event, certain behaviors and actions may be deemed inappropriate during this kind of ceremony. Nevertheless, culturally speaking there are major gaps between funeral traditions around the world. Cremations, graveyard burials, bone-turning, mortuary rituals, processions and other traditions differ in several countries. Learn about some fascinating funeral traditions following this link.

Yikes! Chinese and Taiwanese hire funeral strippers to honor the dead.

Anyway, playing respectable music during a funeral service seems to be a constant agreement for most people. Here are 5 other songs that didn't make it into the top 10 but still are amongst the worst:

1. I Fucking Hate You - Godsmack
2. Bodies - Drowning Pool
3. Congratulations - Cliff Richard
4. Cold As Ice - Foreigner
5. Dead On Arrival - Fall Out Boy

PS: If you pick Ding Dong the Witch is Dead, don't forget to bring a complimentary broom to bury with the corpse. (Just kidding)

Did you know? #1: The Great Movie Ride

Lights, Camera, Action!

A glamorous Hollywood marquee awaits guests inside

For all of those film enthusiasts who live wishing they could recreate some of their favorite moments from the motion picture history; this is definitely the ride for you.

Located at the Disney's Hollywood Studios (originally named MGM Studios; which was changed in early 2008), The Great Movie Ride was opened to the public on May 1st, 1989. The ride's exterior was built to resemble Hollywood Boulevard's famous Graumann's Chinese Theatre. Once inside, guests can appreciate real movie costumes and props displayed throughout the queue line in glass cases. They can also enjoy a looped video featuring extracts from several classic film trailers, which is projected in a small movie theater right before stepping into the carts. After enjoying the few film displays, guests are loaded into vehicles (with capacity for 34 people) driven by a cast member who will guide everyone through a memorable Hollywood film trip.

The original Great Movie Ride poster read "A spectacular journey into the movies", which is exactly what this wonderful attraction delivers to its many guests. Featuring scenes from movies such as Footlight Parade, George Of The Jungle, Mary Poppins and other huge classics, this 22-minute interactive ride sums up a true history of motion pictures in a fun and adventurous way.

Gene Kelly sings Singin' In The Rain on a light post

In addition to this, Disney has recently announced that the Great Movie Ride will be getting a revamp powered by the new partnership between Walt Disney World and Turner Classic Movies, which means TCM will be sponsoring the ride and financing the update. This could mean the removal or replacing of some of the film scenes pictured through the attraction. On the other hand, the queue line will be upgraded with digital content and several other treats. The new and improved ride is expected to be ready by spring of 2015. You can read more about it HERE.

Although I don't want to spoil the ride for those who haven't been on it, here's a link to a video showcasing the whole attraction from a POV in case you don't get to ride it before the upcoming renewal: Disney's: The Great Movie Ride.

You can also learn more about this ride visiting the DisneyWiki page.