Amphiprion clarkii, known also as Clark's anemonefish or Yellowtail clownfish, is a Marine fish belonging to the family Pomacentridae which gathers clownfishes and damselfishes^[1].

Description [edit]

Clark's Anemonefish is a small sized fish which grows up to 15cm. Its body has a stock appearance, oval shape, compressed laterally and with a round profile. It's a spectacularly colourful fish, with vivid black, white and yellow stripes, though the exact pattern shows considerable geographical variation. Usualy the body coloration is black on the dorsal area and orangey yellow on the ventral area and the black colour's proportion varies according to the animals and tends to extend with the age^[2]. There are normally two vertical white bands, one behind the eye and one above the anus,the pelvic and caudal fin are orangey yellow,a white ring on the caudal peduncle. The snout is orange or orangey pink^[3]. The tail fin may be white or yellow, but is always lighter than rest of the body^[4]. All juveniles are orangey yellow with the caractéristics vertical white bands^[5].

Distribution [edit]

Clark's anemonefish is a widely distributed in the tropical waters from the Indian Ocean to the western part of teh Pacific Ocean^[6].

Habitat [edit]

Adults inhabit in lagoons and on outer reef slopes. It's able to live in association with the ten species of sea anemones which are hosting clownfishes:

• Cryptodendrum adhaesivum,
• Entacmaea quadricolor,
• Heteractis aurora,
• Heteractis crispa,
• Heteractis magnifica,
• Heteractis malu,
• Macrodactyla doreensis,
• Stychodactyla gigantea,
• Stychodactyla haddoni,
• Stychodactyla mertensii^[7].

Feeding [edit]

Clark's anemonefish is omnivorous and its diet is based on zooplankton and algaes.^[8] Clarke's Anemonefish are a popular aquarium species. They are omnivorous, and in the aquarium will readily eat brine shrimp.

Behaviour [edit]

Amphiprion clarkii has a diurnal activity. It is protrandous hermaphrodite, which means the male can evolved to female during his life, and lives in harem in which an established dominance hierarchy manages the group and keeps individuals at a specific social rank. It has also an aggressive territorial behaviour and it's completly dependant from its sea anemone which represents its "life insurance" as a safe shelter for the group and for the nest. The associative relationship that binds the clownfish and the sea anemone is called mutualism.In one hand, the fish can lives within the sea anemone's tentacles and uses it as a shelter because it has developped a fin layer of mucus which covers its body as a protection against the stinging anemone's tentacles. On the other hand, the presence of the clownfish can be interpreted as a lure to attract potential anemone's preys close to the tentacles. And the clownfish can also defend the anemone against some reef fishes which could eat the tentacles like butterflyfishes.^[9]

References [edit]