It's true. Sure, it is not appropriate material for Disney movies. But the scientific fact is that when Nemo's mom was ate by a shark, Nemo's dad could have just turned himself into a mom.
All clown fish start their lives off as males. The live in colonies inside an anemone, typically on coral reefs. The largest fist in each colony is the breeding female, the next largest the breeding male. A number of smaller, sexually inactive clown fish also live in the anemone. If one of the breeding couple dies, the biggest of the sexually inactive lads will step-up-to-the-plate and become a breeding male. The promotion always goes from sexually inactive lad to breeding male, because if the fish who died was female the breeding male will become a breeding female.
There is a rigid hierarchy from sexually inactive lad, to breeding male to breeding female. Promotion up the hierarchy is based on an objective criterion: size.
It is fairly common for reef-fish to be able to change gender. A quick Google search did not reveal the genetic basis for this gender identity. But clearly gender in reef fish is something more subtle than X and Y chromosomes.
Acknowledgements: this post was inspired by a visit to the Sea Life aquarium in Birmingham
3 comments:
Just to clarify: Nemo's mom could not have been "ate" by a shark, she could only have been "eaten" by a shark. Although no doubt she was ate by a shark while dad was just sat there doing nothing.
Oops. Marital conflicts.
This reminds me (the blog, not the conflict) of a great scene in one of the Corfu Gerald Durrells, (Birds, beasts and relatives, I think) when Larry envies the snail for being to being able to enjoy both the male and female sexual experience!
Nemo's mom wasn't ate or eaten (or even et) by a shark. She was gobbled up by a barracuda.
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