Red sea clownfish, Red sea, Two-banded, Anemonefish
The Red Sea Clownfish (Amphiprion bicinctus, meaning "both sawlike with two stripes"), commonly known as the Red Sea or two-banded anemonefish is a marine fish belonging to the family Pomacentridae, the clownfishes and damselfishes. Like other species of the genus, the fish feeds on algae and zooplankton in the wild.
Clownfish or anemonefish are fishes that, in the wild, form symbiotic mutualisms with sea anemones and are unaffected by the stinging tentacles of the host anemone, see Amphiprioninae § Symbiosis and mutualism. The sea anemone protects the clownfish from predators, as well as providing food through the scraps left from the anemone's meals and occasional dead anemone tentacles. In return, the clownfish defends the anemone from its predators, and parasites. Clownfish are small-sized, 10–18 centimetres (3.9–7.1 in), and depending on species, they are overall yellow, orange, or a reddish or blackish color, and many show white bars or patches. Within species there may be color variations, most commonly according to distribution, but also based on sex, age and host anemone. Clownfish are found in warmer waters of the Indian and Pacific oceans and the Red Sea in sheltered reefs or in shallow lagoons.
In a group of clownfish, there is a strict dominance hierarchy. The largest and most aggressive fish is female and is found at the top. Only two clownfish, a male and a female, in a group reproduce through external fertilization. Clownfish are sequential hermaphrodites, meaning that they develop into males first, and when they mature, they become females.
The fish's body is yellow-orange to dark brown. As the name suggests, the two-banded anemonefish has two white bands or bars, with black edges. The head-bar considerably wider. They have 9-10 dorsal spines, 2 anal spines, 15-17 dorsal soft rays and 13-14 anal soft rays. Males grow to a length of 10 centimetres (3.9 in), and females grow to a length of 14 centimetres (5.5 in).
The principal variation is that the body can be yellow-orange to dark brown.
The species is found in the Western Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, Socotra and the Chagos archipelago.
