A little orange face peers through the waving tentacles of a green sea anemone. It darts back, then reappears further along the anemone. A second orange face pops out and the pair of clownfish began a threat display.
We are diving at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef, off Great Keppel Island. The clownfish aren’t the Nemo kind, being a less vibrant orange with a single stripe behind the eyes.
Their attitude is different to Nemo’s passive character too. First one, then the other darts across and nips at the nearest hand before darting back into the sea anemone.
Laughing underwater isn’t recommended, but these cute little fish have us both in fits, with their antics. For the clownfish however, it is a different story. They are deadly serious in their attempt to chase off two large intruders that threaten their host sea anemone.
Over half an hour we ignore the myriads of colourful fish and corals all around and just stay with the clownfish. For any other fish the sting of the sea anemone’s tentacles would be fatal. For the clownfish, with their protective mucus coating, the stinging tentacles don’t activate and the clownfish have a safe home. Our camera lens becomes the target as they try to chase off a clownfish reflection and double their efforts to drive it away.
