Tomato clownfish

Biology

The tomato clownfish is bright orange-red, with one white vertical stripe just behind the eyes, joined over the head, and can grow up to 14 centimetres. Its body is covered in mucus that protects it from the poisonous stings of the tentacles of large anemones. This allows it to shelter from predators among the dangerous tentacles, without being attacked and eaten by the anemones. In return, the clownfish defends the anemone from its predators and parasites, and the anemone also picks up nutrients from the clownfish’s excrement.

Conservation

Coral reefs, home of these creatures, are in danger. Pollution, fisheries and climate change are a major threat for corals, and all of the living things that inhabit them.

Curiosities

Like all clownfishes, this species can experience a change in sex. They are protandrous hermaphrodites, which means they start life as males, but if the dominant female dies, one of the males will change sex.