Red Sea anemonefish

The Red Sea clownfish, also called the two-banded anemonefish, is a small reef fish with a yellow-orange to dark brown body and two white bars edged in black. The bar behind the head is clearly wider. Like other clownfish, it lives among the stinging tentacles of sea anemones.

The species lives in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the western Indian Ocean, around Socotra and in the Chagos Archipelago. Males reach about 10 centimetres and females about 14 centimetres. In the wild it feeds on algae and tiny floating animals. The IUCN lists it as Least Concern. The globe places it on coral reefs off Sinai in the northern Red Sea.

Friends with anemones

Clownfish form a partnership with sea anemones. The anemone's stinging tentacles do not hurt the clownfish, which is protected by its slimy coat. The anemone shelters the fish from predators and gives it scraps to eat, and in return the fish chases away animals that attack the anemone and keeps it clean. This species is a generalist: it can live in five different kinds of anemone, including the bubble-tip anemone.

All born male

Clownfish live in groups with a strict order. The largest, most aggressive fish is a female, and only she and one male breed. All clownfish start life as males and some become females when they grow up, which scientists call a sequential hermaphrodite. If the female dies, the biggest male can take her place. The two-banded look is shared by several related species, but the yellow tail fin helps tell this one apart.

On the globe

The globe shows the clownfish on the coral reefs of the northern Red Sea off Sinai. Look for the orange body with two white bars.