The clown fish and the anemone

BY MADELINE SARGENT

Why I chose my subject

I chose to do the clown fish and the anemone because first of all, I was very interested in fish and second, I was very, very curious about the ocean and the creatures that lived below it. The clown fish to me, is one of the most graceful fish in the sea. The anemone on the other hand was very appealing to me because of the way it moved. I thought the relationship between the two was the most incredible thing I’d ever seen.

If you’re wondering what symbiosis means, I can tell you right now. The word symbiosis, means a relationship between two living organisms that connect or rely

on each other.

There are three different types of symbiotic relationships. The first one is called mutualism, which means both creatures benefit and are involved in the relationship. The second type of symbiosis is called commensalisms, which means one of creatures benefits but the other does not and doesn’t get affected. Last but not least, the third type of symbiosis is called parasitism. Parasitism means that only one organism benefits and the other does not, but does get harmed in the process.

Clownfish

Clown Fish: “Uh oh, here comes 8 evil butterfly fish!”

Anemone: ( saying it very fast ) “Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, what’s going to happen, what’s going to happen??!!”

Clown fish: “Don’t worry my good old friend I’ll protect you.” (saying it to the Butterfly fish) “Shoo, shoo, shoo, shoo, shoo, shoo, shoo, shoo. Go away Butterfly fish!!!” “We were just enjoying a game of hide and seek and now you’ve ruined it!!!!!!!!!”

Butterfly fish: “Well sorry, I am very hungry, and your friend looks extremely appetizing to me!!!”

Clown fish: “Well, you are definitely not going to eat him or you’ll get my fin in your face!”

Anemone: “Oh, just make them go away already!” “Please I beg of you!!!”

Butterfly fish: “Well then, lets go boys.” “Lets find something else a little more appetizing then this foul creature.”

Anemone: “Oh, thank you so, so much Clownfish. “Those creepy things would have eaten me alive!!”

Clown fish: “Oh, don’t worry about it man, that was nothing.”

Anemone: “Well thanks again.”

Clown fish: “No problemo.”

Clown fish: “Uh oh, here comes a hammerhead shark, hide me!” (Clownfish quickly hides in anemones tentacles)

THE END

Script

Organisms environment Features How features help it survive

In the sea Has three bright orange stripes lures micro organisms back to anemone for food and fertilizing

Lots of rocks, fish, sharks Have special mucus covering the Doesn't get poisoned or harmed by and underwater plants outer skin anemones stinging tentacles

Colorful and always moving Eats scraps from anemone’s meals Can easily find food in its own

territory

- Ocean always has some light Fast and quick Helps it get away from larger predators and makes it harder to

catch

Organisms environment Features How features help it survive

In the sea Has stinging tentacles Helps catch food and defend itself from larger predators

A rocky environment Able to acclimate itself to It can live anywhere in the various temperatures of water ocean

Many different kinds of It is a carnivore Wide variety in their diet ( fish, shrimp sharks, coral, jelly fish, plankton and crabs)algae and other plant life

Extremely colorful Pieces of sea anemone can Still able to survive because reproduce even if torn apart each part becomes a new sea anemone

Anemone Clown fish

Both have to live in salt water

Has to attach itselfto shells, rocks orwharf pilings to survive

Mucus covering

Needs to move quickly

Paralyzing neurotoxin in theirtentacles

Sun light

Unique movement found in no other fishSo that the anemone knows it is not food

Can only live 50 meters below surface food

Usually live in pairs

Can only live in ten out of one thousand Species of anemone

Can only survive in certain watertemperatures

Once upon a time, a little clown fish named Cade was brought into a pet store. He was terrified when he arrived, but over time he became used to his new home. However, he never got used to people pressing their ugly faces in on him.

He knew he would be bought soon, and was hoping to be purchased by a loving family that took great care of

him. That all changed one late Thursday afternoon, when a family named the Wormwoods looked in the tank and

saw him. Mrs. Wormwood started screaming and an employee rushed over and asked what was wrong. Mrs. Wormwood whispered she wanted Cade and then right after she spoke she fainted . The employee tried to scoop Cade out of the tank but it took quite some time due to Cade’s quick and jerky movements.

In the car, Mrs. Wormwood kept looking into the bag and saying “ My oh my, what a fascinating fish!!” When they arrived home, Cade was put into a big fish tank that had many different species of fish. Cade saw

a big anemone in the tank and the anemone had attached himself onto a big, silver rock. Luckily, Cade had lived with an anemone in the pet store and knew he wouldn’t be harmed by the anemones poisonous tentacles. His species of fish could form a special mucus covering on the outside of their skin. This covering protects them from the anemone paralyzing neurotoxin.

Carefully and slowly he swam over to the anemone and said “Hello, are you feeling okay?” The anemone whose name was Andy, replied “Yes I’m alright.”

Cade and Andy soon became great friends because they realized that Andy was the special type of anemone Cade could live with.

Over time Cade started to realize what was going on around him. He saw many other fish but their color wasn’t as bright as the day they were plopped into the tank. He looked at himself and surely enough he had lost a great deal of his color too. He noticed the aquarium was not receiving enough light and everything in it was becoming dull!

For some reason Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood kept dumping in this strange powder that made every fish go blind for five minutes. Everyone began to lose weight and became extremely weak. Andy, the anemone, kept crying tears because he missed his family. Alice, the algae plant, and Cade both said he would be alright and everything would go just fine but they were wrong!

After a couple of weeks, the whole community became seriously ill because Mr. Wormwood was still using the strange powder that made everybody and everything suffer terribly. Mr. and Mrs. wormwood obviously did not know how to take care of clownfish, anemones and other exotic fish. Unfortunately, the whole aquarium passed away and all that was left were a few dirty rocks and smelly plastic plants.

THE END

Features that were found most interesting:

I found all the features of my two organisms really cool. The feature I found most fascinating about the anemone were the stinging tentacles that had the paralyzing neurotoxin in them. The way the could easily kill the prey or predator without even touching them was fantastic!

The one special advantage I thought was so cool about the tiny Clownfish was having the special mucus covering the outer part of their skin. It seems as though there is a tiny suit of armor protecting the fish from the venom/poison.

What things were not known before:

I had never researched these organisms and I only knew a few facts about each one. I certainly did not know that the clownfish can only live with 10 out of over 1000 species of anemone. Amazingly, to my surprise ten thousand anemones are ripped off the ocean floor each year and die soon after being put into captivity.

Anemones can live up to 60 years in the wild and usually can live for six or seven years in captivity which is sad but true.

Anything beautiful or disgusting:

Everything was definitely beautiful; the habitat, the organisms around it, but best of all the relationship between the clownfish and the anemone was certainly amazing.

There was a one thing that was disgusting though, and that was the clownfish eating the scraps off the anemones previous meal. For all we know the scraps could have been in the anemones mouth and the anemone could have just spit them out. But everything else was fantastic!

Anything just plain weird:

No not really.

Paralyzing Fish

The Paralyzing Fish is found in the tropical waters of South America and is rarely seen. Its bright orange color resembles

the face paint of a clown. The paralyzing fish is quick and fast, so it makes it hard for predators to catch.

This fish has a special paralyzing neurotoxin that covers the outside of its skin. This makes it deadly to any predator that tries

to eat it. This species of fish is slowly becoming extinct and thousands

of people are trying to save this amazing but deadly fish.

The Paralyzing Fish is most suited to warmer waters but canacclimate itself to different temperatures. The fish is found only in

the southern parts of South America and is usually floating right below the surface of the water.

It is easily spotted by its bright color and pointy tail.

Bibliography

Resources:

1. http://www.nationalgeographic.com

2. www.allthesea.com

3. www.calstela.edu/faculty/eviau/edit557

4. www.actwin.com/species/anemone/html

5. http://highclass-adventure.com

6. Twist, Clint. Ocean Life Dictionary. New York: Scholastic 2006

I downloaded my pictures from Compfight and Google. I made sure they weren’t copyrighted on Google..