Orange Skunk Clownfish

Facts about the Orange Skunk Clownfish, it is a sea fish that comes from the genus Amphiprion of the Pomacentridae family. The scientific name of this fish is Amphiprion sandaracinos, and it is also called as the Golden Anemonefish or Orange Skunk Clownfish. The Orange Skunk Clownfish species can be largely seen in the interior of the Indo-Pacific region, particularly at Christmas Island and in the Philippines. They are also frequently found in Papua New Guinea, Melanesia, Indonesia, and in the northern part of South Japan. The Orange Skunk Clownfish species are nowadays kept by lots of people for an aquarium pastime.

Features

The Orange Skunk Clownfish is a small size marine fish, such that as a male, it has a maximum body length of 4.4 inches (11 cm), whereas as a female has the body length that ranges from 1.2 inches to 2.6 inches (3 to 6.5 cm). The body of the Orange Skunk Clownfish has a stock look, oval in shape, dense laterally and with a circular profile. The Orange Skunk Clownfish has an extremely bright orange colored body, with a white color stripe on its dorsal ridge from the bigger lip, running between its eyes and concluding at its caudal fin base. All the fins of the Orange Skunk Clownfish have the similar coloration similar to that of its body, except its dorsal fin is partially white in color. The Orange Skunk Clownfish has a bright yellow color iris.

The Orange Skunk Clownfish usually exists in small groups on external reef slopes or in ponds at a maximum depth of 66 feet (20 meters). The Orange Skunk Clownfish lives in alliance with two diverse species of marine anemones. It is frequently observed in company with the sea anemone, the Stichodactyla mertensii and rarely with the Heteractis crispa.

Diet

The Orange Skunk Clownfish is an omnivorous fish and it mostly feeds on zooplankton, algae and petite benthic crustaceans in the wild. In captivity, the Orange Skunk Clownfish are fed with pellet foods, live foods, and flake foods.

Behavior

The Orange Skunk Clownfish features a diurnal activity. The Orange Skunk Clownfish is a protrandous hermaphrodite, meaning that the male fish can turn into a female fish in his life, and exists in harem in which an established supremacy hierarchy administers the group and maintains individuals at a precise social rank. The Orange Skunk Clownfish also acts in an aggressive way to protect its territory and it is totally a dependant from its ocean anemone that represents its life assurance as a safe refuge for the entire group and for the shell.

The associative bond that binds the ocean anemone and the Orange Skunk Clownfish is referred to as mutualism. In one way, the Orange Skunk Clownfish has its life contained by the tentacles of the sea anemone and exploits it as a protection because it has urbanized a fin cover of mucus that envelops its body as a defense against the stinging tentacles of the anemone. On the other hand, the existence of the Orange Skunk Clownfish can be interpreted as a charm to draw prospective preys of the anemone close to the tentacles. Moreover, the Orange Skunk Clownfish species can also protect the anemone against a number of reef fish that could consume the tentacles.

The spawning in the Orange Skunk Clownfish will take place once in 10 days, and the eggs will hatch within 7 days to 9 days and the larval age is 8 days to 10 days. Usually, the average size of the nest is 300 eggs.

The average life span of the Orange Skunk Clownfish in the wild ranges from 3 years to 5 years, whereas in the captive they can exist between 6 years and 10 years.