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Anemonefishes
Amphiprion
Clownfish or anemonefishes (genus Amphiprion) are saltwater fish found in the warm and tropical waters of the Pacific Ocean. They mainly inhabit coral reefs and have a distinctive colouration typically consisting of white vertical bars on a red, orange, yellow, brown or black background. Clownfish developed a symbiotic and mutually beneficial relationship with sea anemones, on which they rely for shelter and protection from predators. In turn, clownfish protect the anemone from anemone-eating fish, as well as clean and fan them, and attract beneficial microorganisms with their waste.
Clownfish are omnivorous and mostly feed on plankton. They live in groups consisting of a breeding female and male, along with some non-breeding individuals. Clownfish have a size-based dominance hierarchy with the breeding female ranking at the top, followed by the breeding male and then the largest non-breeder and so on. When the female disappears, the breeding male changes sex and takes her place while the others move up the hierarchy. During reproduction, the female deposits eggs on a rock near their anemone, and the male fertilises them. After hatching, clownfish disperse into the open ocean as larvae, eventually settling on the bottom and searching for an anemone host as juveniles.
30 branches of this genus, most-observed first · about 32 known species
Clark's Anemonefish
speciesAmphiprion clarkii
Amphiprion percula
complexAmphiprion percula
Pink Skunk Anemonefish
speciesAmphiprion perideraion
Blackback Anemonefish
speciesAmphiprion melanopus
Red Sea Anemonefish
speciesAmphiprion bicinctus
Spine-cheek Clownfish
speciesAmphiprion biaculeatus
Barrier Reef Anemonefish
speciesAmphiprion akindynos
Tomato Clownfish
speciesAmphiprion frenatus
Pacific Orangefin Anemonefishes
complexAmphiprion chrysopterus
Orange Skunk Anemonefish
speciesAmphiprion sandaracinos
Fiji Tomato Anemonefish
speciesAmphiprion barberi
Blackfin Anemonefish
speciesAmphiprion nigripes
Skunk Anemonefish
speciesAmphiprion akallopisos
Saddleback Anemonefish
speciesAmphiprion polymnus
Allard's Anemonefish
speciesAmphiprion allardi
Northern Saddleback Anemonefish
speciesAmphiprion annamensis
Three-band Anemonefish
speciesAmphiprion tricinctus
Wideband Anemonefish
speciesAmphiprion latezonatus
McCulloch's Anemonefish
speciesAmphiprion mccullochi
Madagascar Anemonefish
speciesAmphiprion latifasciatus
Red Saddleback Anemonefish
speciesAmphiprion ephippium
Australian Anemonefish
speciesAmphiprion rubrocinctus
Mauritian Anemonefish
speciesAmphiprion chrysogaster
White-bonnet Anemonefish
speciesAmphiprion leucokranos
Sebae Anemonefish
speciesAmphiprion sebae
Seychelles Anemonefish
speciesAmphiprion fuscocaudatus
Oman Anemonefish
speciesAmphiprion omanensis
Pacific Anemonefish
speciesAmphiprion pacificus
Chagos Anemonefish
speciesAmphiprion chagosensis
Thielle's Anemonefish
speciesAmphiprion thiellei
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
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In the stacks
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Every page naming Amphiprion in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 57742.