Clown Acclimation To Anemone/Coral?
- Thread starter bdhough
- Start date
psychoskater
Member
I was on the internet looking for information on that and I came across some marine biologist site. It said that clown fish move around in anemones a lot and get the anemones slime on them. When they get the slime the anemone doesnt even notice them.
Im not sure if this is true or not....
But i bought an anemone a while ago and put a tomato clown in with it. Almost instantly the clown dove into the anemone. At first he would make constant swims away from it but after a couple weaks he was attached.
Im not sure if this is true or not....
But i bought an anemone a while ago and put a tomato clown in with it. Almost instantly the clown dove into the anemone. At first he would make constant swims away from it but after a couple weaks he was attached.
wrassecal
Active Member
One theory is that it comes from the host actinian. Supporters of this theory (Schlichter foremost among them) believe that during its elaborate "acclimation" swimming when contact is initially made with its host, the fish smears mucus from the anemone all over itself. Just as the sea anemone does not sting itself, it does not sting a fish, or any other object, covered in its mucus. The fish is thereby chemically camouflaged: it is, essentially, a fish in anemone's clothing. The fish's normal behaviour of returning to its anemone at least once a minute can be interpreted as serving to maintain its protective layer of mucus. According to this theory, what allows clownfishes to live in this peculiar habitat is their unusual behaviour.
Finding anemone mucus on many objects with which the animal regularly comes in contact, such as the rocks and algae around it, other scientists (Lubbock foremost among them) believe that its presence on a fish is the result of the fish's being protected rather than its cause. The fish's own mucus has evolved to lack components that stimulate nematocyst discharge, according to this theory, and "acclimation" behaviour may be an artifact of artificially separating animals that normally never are parted. The secret to clownfishes' peculiar habitat, according to this interpretation, is their unusual biochemistry.
As in so much of science, there is probably truth on both sides. -California Academy of Sciences
Finding anemone mucus on many objects with which the animal regularly comes in contact, such as the rocks and algae around it, other scientists (Lubbock foremost among them) believe that its presence on a fish is the result of the fish's being protected rather than its cause. The fish's own mucus has evolved to lack components that stimulate nematocyst discharge, according to this theory, and "acclimation" behaviour may be an artifact of artificially separating animals that normally never are parted. The secret to clownfishes' peculiar habitat, according to this interpretation, is their unusual biochemistry.
As in so much of science, there is probably truth on both sides. -California Academy of Sciences