Bitch: On the Female of the Species

by Lucy Cooke

These tiny two-toned fish became internationally famous as the stars of Finding Nemo. The smash-hit animation, released by Disney, featured the heart-warming tale of a young anemonefish (Nemo) that had lost his mum to a barracuda and ended up going on an incredible adventure before reuniting with his dad (Marlin). Needless to say the movie takes more than a pinch of artistic licence with the real lives of anemonefish. These monogamous reef dwellers set up home together in an anemone, whose stinging tentacles offer the couple, and their eggs, protection. The belligerent female is the boss in the relationship – it’s her job to defend the territory while the male cares for the eggs. The fish live surprisingly long lives – up to thirty years – in the same anemone, often with a bunch of juvenile males in attendance. If the female is removed, say nabbed by a barracuda, it will trigger Mr Anemonefish to transform into the new dominant female, and one of the juvenile males to mature into her mate.