The Yellowtail Clownfish, also known as Clark’s anemone fish, is stocky and laterally compressed with an oval or round body that is adorned with vivid black, white and yellow stripes, an orange or pinkish snout and orange-yellow dorsal and caudal fins. The male of the species grow to around four inches long and the female can reach a length of around six inches.
Anemonefish form symbiotic, mutually beneficial relationships with sea anemones and are unaffected by the host anemone’s stinging tentacles. The sea anemone protects the clownfish from predators and provides it with food scraps left over from its meals. In return the clownfish defends the anemone from predators and parasites.
Clownfish are sequential hermaphrodites, meaning that they develop into males first and, when they mature, they become females. They are found in warmer waters of the Indian and Pacific oceans and the Red Sea in sheltered reefs or shallow lagoons.