Newswise — Finding Nemo is not a problem for Ileana Clavijo, a University of North Carolina at Wilmington biology professor. Clavijo cultures clown fish in several tanks in her lab in Friday Hall and maintains a public display of the popular, bright fish in the first floor of the building.
While the distinctive fish have been popular at pet stores since their appearance decades ago, the summer movie Finding Nemo has increased interest in the orange, white and black fish. Finding Nemo is a Disney feature-length cartoon about a clown fish searching for his son, Nemo. Along the journey, both father and son meet an assortment of sea life indigenous to Australian waters.
It has been reported that children want these fish while at the same time wanting to return them to the wild, sometimes by way of toilets and sinks.
These marine ornamentals may be purchased at pet stores around the country with prices for an aquarium and fish ranging from $90 to $500. Some of the fish are gathered from the wild and sold, while others are cultivated. Nature-born clown fish are often sold more cheaply, while some scientists recognize the hazards of purchasing the uncultivated fish.
Clavijo, professor of biological sciences at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, studies the behavior and difficulties of spawning and cultivating clown fish with hopes that her research may create competition within the clown fish industry and educate consumers to purchase cultivated fish, perhaps from those raised in North Carolina tanks.
Clavijo is available to comment on her research, some of the accuracies in Finding Nemo and tips for selecting and raising clown fish.
Interesting questions that Dr. Clavijo can address include:- What is the natural habitat of a clown fish?- What is the difference between a captive-raised fish as opposed to a fish from the wild?- Why is it important to select captive-raised fish instead of those from the nature?- What could be the impact on the local marine environment if a pet owner releases a non-local marine fish into the local waterways?- How can North Carolina develop a competitive, clown fish hatchery industry?- Does this movie educate people on the needs of these sea creatures?- Do these fish reproduce easily in a captive environment?It was a "happy accident" that Clavijo started studying clown fish before hearing of the feature-length movie. She became interested in clown fish because "they are a key species that is marketable."
Clavijo is a field biologist with training in ichthyology and fisheries biology with a broad background in general marine biology and ecology. Her research interests include ecological and behavioral interactions of coastal shelf fishes. Clavijo studies the feeding behavior and utilization of hard bottoms as food resources by benthic fishes in North Carolina and herbivorous fishes in the Caribbean, as well as the social structure and reproductive strategies of reef fishes that produce pelagic eggs and larvae. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Puerto Rico in 1982.Contact Dr. Ileana Clavijo at 910/962-3472 or by e-mail at [email protected].
These photos are available at:
Clown fish at UNCW: http://appserv01.uncw.edu/news/custom/clownfish_big.jpg
Dr. Ileana Clavijo and clown fish: http://appserv01.uncw.edu/news/custom/Clavijo_Ileana.jpg
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