Finding Nemo Viewing Guide

Some of the Animals Who Appear in the Movie

Clownfish -- Nemo and Marlin belong to one of about

27 species of clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris).

Clownfish are small and often brightly colored. They

belong to the damselfish family. They are 2 - 5 inches

(5 - 12.5 cm) long. They live in tropical waters.

Clownfish are often sheltered by an anemone with

whom they have a symbiotic relationship. In fact,

most of the scientific literature refers to them as "anemone fish." Clownfish are

not immune to the poison in the anemone's tentacles and at first appear to be

stung by them. Scientists believe that by dancing up against the tentacles for a

time clownfish develop a

protective mucous covering.

Clownfish eat leftovers from

fish consumed by

anemone, planktonic

crustaceans, and algae.

Clownfish also eat the dead

tentacles of their host

anemone. Eggs are laid in

large batches, usually near

and sometimes within the

host anemone. Clownfish

are not eaten by man but

their bright colors make

them popular for saltwater

aquariums. Divers have

damaged many reefs looking for prime specimens. Clownfish live in the tropical

parts of the Pacific and Indian Oceans or where warm, tropical waters are carried

by currents, such as the east coast of Japan.

Pacific Blue Tang -- Dorey's real life models (Paracanthurus hepatus) are

members of the surgeonfish family. They were given this name because sharp,

moveable spines on both sides of their tails were thought to resemble surgeons'

scalpels. These spines are for defense. A fisherman trying to hold a blue tang

can suffer a deep and painful wound if the fish tries to escape by giving a twist of

its tail. The fish are blue with a yellow tail and a black stripe along the upper

portion of their body. They live on zooplankton and can grow to be about 12

inches (31 cm) long. Pacific blue tangs are found in the central and Indo-Pacific

from Africa's east coast to Micronesia.

A different species of surgeonfish, found in

the Atlantic Ocean and without a yellow tail,

is also called a blue tang. It eats only algae.

Loggerhead Sea Turtles -- Usually about 3

feet (1 m) in length and weighing 350 to

400 pounds (182 kg) loggerhead sea turtles

(Caretta caretta) reach maturity at between

16 and 40 years. Sightings of 5 foot long

turtles weighing as much as 1000 pounds

have been recorded. Loggerheads mate in

late March through early June. Eggs are

laid throughout the summer in shallow pits

dug in open beaches. After laying her eggs

the female turtle covers them with sand and leaves. Biologists are not sure where

juvenile turtles grow, but it is thought they inhabit floating islands of seaweed

where they feed and

grow to young adult

size.

Loggerheads live in

most of the tropical

and temperate coastal

waters around the

globe. They are, for

example, the most

common turtles in the

Mediterranean, in the

oceans around the

U.S., and in the

coastal ocean waters of Brazil etc. In the Atlantic, their range is from

Newfoundland to Argentina, including the Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Sea.

Their major nesting beaches in the United States are in South Carolina, Georgia,

and Florida.

The loggerhead is named for its disproportionately large head (when compared

with other turtles), which may measure 9 inches wide (25 cm). It has a heart-

shaped reddish brown shell. The usual life span is 30 - 50 years.

Loggerheads have powerful jaws designed to crush shellfish. They eat mollusks, such as shrimp, horseshoe crabs, blue crabs, clams, and mussels. They also eat invertebrates and some types of sea grasses. Loggerheads can see well underwater and are believed to have an acute sense of smell. They breathe air and when active must swim to the surface after a few minutes. When they are resting, they can remain underwater for as long as two hours. Loggerheads migrate the breadth of the Pacific Ocean, often traveling along ocean currents. Loggerhead turtles are a threatened species. Their population has declined as they drown in fishing nets and as land animals, such as raccoons, cats, and dogs, prey upon their eggs. Development also harms turtles by encroaching upon their beaches and confusing the innate directional signals of hatchlings.

Concepts from Biology The term the food chain describes the fact that each living creature survives by feeding on plants or other animals. Plants or other autotrophic organisms are always the base of the food chain. The heterotrophs that eat the plants are one trophic level or link up the food chain. When the plant-eating animal is killed and eaten by another animal, it is said that the animal that is eating is higher on the food chain than the animal being eaten. In the ocean the base of the food chain is phytoplankton or algae that live near the surface of the water (to get maximum sun) and carry out photosynthesis. The term "plankton" comes from the Greek word "planktos" which means "drifting." Phytoplankton encompass microscopic organisms to seaweed. Phytoplankton are eaten by small fish and by zooplankton, a class of plankton-eating microscopic organisms that include single celled protists, larvae of larger animals, and tiny crustaceans. The zooplankton are then eaten by small fish and some whales. The small fish are eaten by larger fish and those are eaten by even larger fish and so on up the food chain. A species is at the top of its food chain if there are no animals who kill and eat it regularly. For example sharks, lions, human beings, and elephants are said to be at the top of their food chains. Whales were at the top of their food chain until man started to hunt and kill them. An animal that catches another animal and eats it is called a predator. Most fish are predators. Predators must have some advantage over their prey, the animals they eat, in order to capture them. For example, the predator must be faster or must use surprise and ambush. Some predators just sit and wait. Stonefish and scorpion fish are covered with small patches of bright color that look like a colony of algae. The rest of their body is camouflaged to look like the sea floor. Small fish come to eat the algae not recognizing the larger outlines of the predator. Corals are also predators that sit still and wait for their prey. Their tentacles have a poison that kills or injures its prey and draws it into the coral's mouth. Some predators, such as the moray eel, hide in holes or tunnels in the coral reefs and

ambush their prey as it swims by. There are as many different strategies for catching prey as there are predators in the ocean. The most efficient and fearsome predator of all is man who, through livestock raising, fish farming, hunting and fishing, preys upon more species than any other animal. Most species in the ocean are also prey to other animals. Corals, for example, are eaten by parrotfish, butterfly fish and a starfish called the crown of thorns. In one day, a single crown of thorns starfish can eat all the coral polyps in an area the size of a dollar bill. Most species that are prey to others also have strategies to avoid being captured. These include speed, camouflage, disruptive patterns (which break up the outline of a fish and make it harder for predators to see it) and eyespots (markings on various parts of the body that look like eyes which take attention away from the fish's head), counter-shading, in which the fish looks dark on top and light on the bottom (contrary to what other fish expect in an environment in which light comes down from the surface of the water), hiding, schooling, and dispersal. Dispersal means having many young and dispersing them over a wide area so that some will survive to carry on the species. Often, the defenses employed by prey animals are aimed at preserving the species rather than individual members of the species. Just as predators employ many different strategies for catching prey, there are many different strategies for avoiding capture. Scavengers are creatures who keep the environment clean by eating the flesh and bone that predators leave behind. Scavengers don't usually kill their own prey. In the ocean, scavengers such as shrimp, crabs, and sea cucumbers keep the ocean floor clean by eating bits and pieces of fish that the predators leave behind. All animals constantly interact with other animals and plants. Some of the different types of relationships are: symbiotic, commensal, parasitic and predatory. Symbiosis occurs when two different animal species help each other. Here are just a few examples. (1) Clownfishes live within the stinging tentacles of anemones. The anemone provides protection and food for the clownfish who in turn cleans the anemone of debris. Clownfish may even swim out onto the reef and with their bright colors lure other fish to their host anemone to be stung and trapped in the tentacles. (2) When a hermit crab carries an anemone on its shell, little fish won't bite the hermit crab for fear of being poisoned and eaten by the anemone. The anemone gets a free ride to places in which it can find new sources of food. (The hermit crab knows that the anemones protect it. When the hermit crab changes its shell, it will stroke the anemones on its old shell to get them to move to the new shell.) (3) Several types of fish clean the bodies of other fish, eating parasites and dead scales. One partner gets a meal and the other stays clean and healthy. Fish called the cleaning wrasses are visited by other fish

A fish with eyespot

diversionary markings

who allow them to go over their bodies, into their mouths and out their gills to clean them. Fish line up at "cleaning stations" waiting to be cleaned by other fish. (4) Algae and coral polyps also serve one another. The zooxanthellae, a type of algae, live within coral polyps. The zooxanthellae are nourished by gasses (carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and phosphorus) produced as waste products by the coral. The presence of the algae increases the speed with which these waste products are removed from the polyp as well as the rate at which the hard outer skeleton of the polyp is created. Corals also gain advantage from the oxygen and nutrients produced by their zooxanthellae through photosynthesis. In fact, reefs are built only where there are plentiful zooxanthellae in the living tissues of stony corals. A commensal relationship between two species occurs when one benefits but the other does not, although the latter is not harmed by the interaction. A "parasite" attaches to a host and obtains nourishment but does not kill it. However, a parasitic relationship is not good for the host since the parasite takes nourishment from the host's blood or in other ways. In addition, some parasites carry diseases that can harm or even kill the host. Domestication occurs when one animal or plant is grown by another and harvested for food. Domestication is a type of symbiosis in which the farmer cultivates and tends to the domesticated plant or animal and either eats it or uses something produced by the plant or animal. Even when domesticated plants or animals are eaten, enough seeds or breeding animals are retained for the survival of the herd or flock. An important feature of the relationships between individuals of different species is that often, relationships which are predatory on the individual level may be symbiotic on the species level. In this way lions unwittingly aid the preservation of the species that they hunt by killing off the ill, the weak and the genetically defective, thus maintaining the health and vitality of the herd.

Corals and Coral Reefs Coral reefs are the largest animal-made structures in nature rivaled only by the megalopolises created by man. The most extensive coral reef, the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia, is more than 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) long. Coral reefs grow in clean, salty, shallow water (less than 150 feet deep) where there is a lot of sunlight and warm weather. Almost all coral reefs are found near the equator. Coral reefs support thousands of different species of animals and plants. It is estimated that 5,000 to 6,000 different species of fish live on the Great Barrier Reef. But there are more than just fish. Many varieties of crab, shrimp, clam,

oyster, starfish, sponge, sea anemone, octopus, eel, worm, and snail also make the reef their home. Coral reefs can be found off the coasts of only two states in the U.S., Hawaii and Florida. Corals are simple animals, whose bodies, called polyps, are soft fleshy bags with finger-like tentacles ringing a mouth. At the other end the polyp attaches to a hard surface such as a rock or the hard exterior of another coral polyp. Polyps are thumb sized or smaller. Corals are open only at one end. They do not have hands, eyes, ears, brains, or bones but their tentacles are loaded with tiny stingers. Corals are carnivorous and eat zooplankton. Corals reproduce in two ways. Some corals produce eggs and other corals produce sperm. These develop as outgrowths on the inside bag of the polyp and are pushed out through the mouth into open water. The eggs are usually fertilized by the sperm in the open sea, but this can also occur inside the polyp as sea water carrying sperm enters its mouth. The fertilized egg develops into a larva which swims around for several days or even as long as several weeks. When it attaches to a solid surface it will develop into a polyp. A second method of reproduction is called budding in which a bump forms on a polyp. A new coral polyp will grow and form a new limestone cup attached to the cup of the old polyp. When the old polyp dies, the new polyp continues to grow. Coral polyps die if the sea water becomes too salty or too warm or if there is pollution in the water. When a coral polyps dies, the zooxanthellae algae in the coral polyp also die. The coral then becomes white because its color is derived from the algae it hosts. This is called coral bleaching. Bleached reefs can recover, but it takes a long time. Sponges are animals, although they may look like plants. They feed on bacteria, other organisms, and inorganic matter in the water as it passes through the sponge. The sponge acts as a filter, cleaning the water around coral reefs. Anemones are animals that attach to coral, to rocks or sometimes to the shells of crabs. They have poisonous tentacles which sting their pray and draw them into the anemone's mouth. A star fish eats by shoving its stomach out through its mouth. The stomach covers the food and softens it with its digestive juices. When the food is soft enough the starfish takes the food into its stomach which it pulls back into its body. When a starfish loses an arm it simply grows another one.

Finding Nemo questions

Energy flows through ecosystems in one direction, usually from the sun, to the

photosynthetic organisms (autotrophs), and then throught heterotrophic organisms

(organisms that can’t make their own food from sunlight or chemicals) in the following

order: herbivores, to carnivores, to decomposers. Energy is a necessary component of

every living thing.

1. All living things require energy for LIFE FUNCTIONS. Name 5 of the life

functions.

a. ___________________________________

b. ___________________________________

c. ___________________________________

d. ___________________________________

e. ___________________________________

2. Energy is transferred through ecosystems by means of food chains and food webs.

Define food chain?

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3. Illustrate a food chain from the movie Finding Nemo using arrows to show the

direction of material and energy flow. Identify producers, primary consumer,

secondary consumer, and decomposer.

Example: Grass Grasshopper Bird Bobcat

Answer inside the box Bacteria

4. Write one or more paragraphs describing some of the relationships in this food

web. In your answer be sure to:

a. Identify the carnivore from the food web (Bruce?).

b. Describe a complete path of energy from the sun to that carnivore.

c. Explain why decomposers are necessary in this food web.

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5. The final link of a food chain is a saprophytic organism or bacteria that decays.

Why are these organisms essential to the food chain?

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6. List 5 adaptations predators must have to be successful. Use examples from the

movie.

a. ____________________________________________________________

b. ____________________________________________________________

c. ____________________________________________________________

d. ____________________________________________________________

e. ____________________________________________________________

7. What is the difference between Phytoplankton and Zooplankton, why are they

both Plankton.

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8. Define the terms PREDATOR and PREY. Use specific examples from the movie.

a. ____________________________________________________________

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b. ____________________________________________________________

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9. Define symbiosis. Describe three symbiotic relationships, in the movie, between

animals on the coral reef.

a. Define-_____________________________________________________

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i. ______________________________________________________

ii. ______________________________________________________

iii. ______________________________________________________

10. Why does a predator actually help the species of its prey?

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11. Do sharks and the fish they eat have a symbiotic relationship? Explain. ________

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12. Nemo’s stripes help him survive in the wild. Give two examples from the movie

how an animal’s coloration helps it survive in the wild.

a. ____________________________________________________________

b. ____________________________________________________________

13. Abiotic factors are the physical and chemical factors in the environment on which

life depends. List six abiotic factors from the movie.

a. ____________________________________________________________

b. ____________________________________________________________

c. ____________________________________________________________

d. ____________________________________________________________

e. ____________________________________________________________

f. ____________________________________________________________

14. Define the following terms and give examples from the movie.

Commensalism

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Mutualism

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Parasitism

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Saprophytism

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15. Identify three herbivores and three carnivores from the movie.

Herbivores

a. ____________________________________________________________

b. ____________________________________________________________

c. ____________________________________________________________

Carnivores

d. ____________________________________________________________

e. ____________________________________________________________

f. ____________________________________________________________

Coral Reefs

1. Is coral a plant or an animal?

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2. What is the largest barrier reef in the world and how large is it?

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3. What are the two methods by which coral can reproduce?

a. __________________________________________________

b. __________________________________________________

4. Describe the symbiotic relationship that exists between the coral polyp and the

algae.

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5. Give three examples from the movie of organisms that use camouflage as an

adaptation to survive.

a. ____________________________________________

b. ____________________________________________

c. ____________________________________________

6. Is a sea sponge a plant or an animal? ____________________________________

7. How do sea sponges eat?

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8. What are sea anemones and how do they eat?

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9. How does a star fish eat?

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10. What would happen if another fish eats one of the arms of a star fish?

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11. A tourist boat accidentally dumps its fuel into the water

around a coral reef. Write an essay of 75 words

describing one or more possible consequences for the

coral. Include how this would affect the coral reef food chain.

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