clownfish rests among the tentacles of a sea anemone. Photo courtesy of ABQ BioPark.

Nine baby tomato clownfish are now on exhibit in the South Pacific Gallery at the ABQ BioPark Aquarium. The fish were hatched and raised behind the scenes in the Aquarium’s Marine Aquaculture Rearing System (MARS) in October.

“This is the first time that we have reared and raised clownfish to have on display,” said Holly Casman, Aquarium Manager. “Most of the saltwater fish you see in aquariums are still collected in the wild because breeding them in captivity is extremely difficult. We hope that soon we will be rearing marine fish on a large scale and can provide them to other aquariums. This would help reduce the numbers collected from the wild.”

Clownfish were made popular in the movie Finding Nemo.