Clownfish - In The Wild

Finding Nemo, the Pixar animated fantasy film certainly put clownfish front and centre in the minds of many. It is said, the film's director was inspired by the clownfish in his dentist's fish tanks.

Our inspiration has been no less intense, but borne of direct observation of clownfish in tropical waters. This book is a portfolio of our photographic work with ten clownfish species from 2006 to 2023. Locations range from the Red Sea to the Kingdom of Tonga. The southern most clownfish were in the Houtman Abrolhos in Western Australia. The majority of the images are from Sulawesi and Raja Ampat in the Coral Triangle.

The name clownfish is interchangeable with anemonefish. They live in what's called symbiotic mutualism with their host sea anemones. Both the anemone and the fish benefit from this commensal relationship.

There are 29 known species of anemonefish, all from the genus Amphiprion.

Anemonefish are popular with underwater photographers and relatively easy to find and photograph. Their host anemones are prominent on coral reefs and make a pleasing backdrop for portraits of anemonefish.

Observing the fascinating interaction between anemonefish, their hosts and other species can consume much airtime underwater but it is always worthwhile.

We will revise this book regularly for species updates and new material.

All Pam’s images have been taken whilst free diving (from the surface to a depth of 12 metres).

Pam and Wayne’s books have been downloaded in 41 countries.