question about anemone

[deadclam]

just about everything i have read tells me that anemones eat fish if they get to close for the anemone to catch.....why then do they not eat the clownfish anyone know?

 

[zaraemna]

Clownfish taste terrible

JK Someone with more knowledge will explain it better than I can, but basicly they get used to the sting or something.

 

[strat24]

Something in the slime coat I think. And they taste funny

 

[deadclam]

ok i answered my own question....they actually build up an immunity to the poisonous tentacles by rubbing on them...thats why they rub agaisnt them....i guess no other fish can build immunity to there stings

 

[Anemone]

Actually, that's just one theory, and not necessarily the correct one. There is another school of thought that clownfish have a copious slime coat and this slime coat either mimics the anemone's own slime, or in some other way inhibits the firing of the anemone's nematocysts.

If you've watched a clownfish newly introduced to an anemone, they often dart in and out of the anemone, as if they are getting stung. However, with a clown that is hosted by an anemone, the clown swims amongst the anemone's tentacles, and there is no indication that the anemone's nematocysts are firing (as there would be if the clown was just immune to the nematocysts - they'd still be firing).

FWIW,
Kevin