The brilliantly-colored clown fish gets its name from its distinctive black and white markings.
Recently, they have become extremely popular as saltwater aquarium fish. The brightly-colored species command a high price in Europe and the United States. Collectors, realizing the demand, have destroyed many reefs in search of prime specimens, often damaging or killing the host anemones in the process.
These inshore reef dwellers have developed a curious and potentially deadly relationship with the sea anemone.
The clown fish has a symbiotic, or mutually beneficial, relationship with the sea anemone. It catches most of its food by cooperating with its host anemone. The clownfish will leave the safety of the anemone's tentacles and swim out among the nearby reef. Its brilliant colors attract larger fish, who, lured by the thought of a meal, follow it back to the anemone and are stung by the anemone’s tentacles. The anemone then consumes the fish, and the clownfish feeds on the remains.
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