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.
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