August 20, 2013 — Leave it to a scientist to spoil the fun about a cartoon fish.
"Finding Nemo" was the Oscar-winning, box office animated smash about a clownfish who goes after his young son, who's been plucked from the sea and ends up in a fish tank in a dentist's office.
Rare is the child who hasn't seen the movie. So wouldn't it be something if the film or its upcoming sequel accurately depicted the life of a clownfish, writes Patrick Cooney of The Fisheries Blog.
Cooney knows his stuff. He's a fish biologist at North Carolina State University with 15 years of experience. His blog post Monday wondered if it would be so bad if Disney showed how clownfish often change sex.
Yes, in real life, Nemo might become a woman.
Clownfish are sequential hermaphrodites, which helps keeps the species going by keeping the number of adult females and males fairly equal.
All young clownfish become male. And after they pair off, the dominant dude becomes a female.