10 Ridiculously Weird Animal Mating Rituals
8. Male Clownfish Can Become Females And Mate With Another Male
Now for the one that has ruined a beloved Pixar movie for everyone familiar with the mating rituals of clownfish. I’m talking of course about Finding Nemo.
Had Pixar have decided to keep things scientifically accurate, everything would have got pretty messed up for a children’s movie. You see, clownfish are born as undifferentiated hermaphrodites (i.e. they are neither male nor female) and they later select their gender based on the genders of the potential mates available in their environment.
Those clownfish who opt to become female will remain female the rest of their lives as this is the dominant gender for clownfish. Those who opt to become male on the other hand can still change and become female at a later date, and will do so if there aren’t enough female clownfish living in their social environment.
So long story short, in Finding Nemo, following the death of Coral, Marlin should have changed into a female. This would then have resulted in Nemo having sex with his dad in order to reproduce. Something tells me however that Pixar might choose to continue ignoring this fact when they release Finding Dory next year.