04 July 2006

Fairly useless trivia - Part 1

And now for this week's completely useless bit of trivia.

Some of you may be aware of the existence of two distinct marine clownfish: The Ocellaris Clownfish and Percula Clownfish (also known as a false anemonefish / false clownfish).



Both species are very closely related and have very similar patterns and colours although an experience marine biologits could probably tell the two apart at a glance.

What I didn't know (and I bet you don't either) is that the 'easiest' way to tell them apart is to count the number of spines on their dorsal fins - Ocellarises have 11 while Perculas have just 10.

...



-_-


Well, now you know.

It'll be difficult keeping the little buggers completely still while you count, though.

4 comments:

The Wanderer said...

RE: keeping 'em still.

nothing a spear, lotsa electricity and a bucket of ice can help with.

Anonymous said...

That's not your tank, is it?

I didn't realize you started a marine tank.
Nice.

Chris Chong said...

No, it's not my tank... :)

I would never attempt to set up a marine tank - the stress alone would kill me.

Anonymous said...

It would be every OCD's dream come true... pH, temperature, salinity, nitrogen levels, oxygen levels, UV light timing, flow rates... and in the end they still friggin' die.

Oh well, thats life - we live, we learn, then we die (too).