Clownfish also known as the Anemonefish , are fishes which are native to warmer waters of the Indian and Pacific oceans including the Great Barrier Reef and the Red Sea. Thirty species of Clownfish are identified till now. In the wild, they all form symbiotic mutualisms with sea anemones.

     Clownfish became familiar after the animation movie “Finding Nemo.” The most common species of Clownfish is looked like Nemo (Orange with white shades.)


Some interesting facts about Clownfish:

• All Clownfish are born males. But when a female dies, the most dominant clownfish changes itself into a female!
• One species of the clownfish, called the percula clownfish, dances when it comes into contact with the anemones for the first time!
• Clownfish live in small groups among sea anemones. Anemones are flesh-eating animals that look like plants.
• They can lie around thousand eggs at one time, and unlike other fish, out of the thousand eggs, all can survive !
• Clownfish get their name because of their stripes and their bouncing movements, which make them look like clowns!
• The relationship between the clownfish and sea anemone is a symbiotic relationship. Clownfish benefit the anemones by eating the leftovers and dead tentacles of the anemones. Clownfish help the sea anemones by circulating the water around them. In return the anemones protect the Clownfish from the attack of other fish by their venomous tentacles.
• Though clownfish are shown as calm and modest in the movie, ‘Finding Nemo’, they are actually known to be aggressive fish! But there are exceptions, like the skunk clownfish.
• In the wild, clownfish are said to live for six-eight years, and they grow up to only three to five inches!
• Clownfish are not pure vegetarians, they are omnivores. They eat algae, and the food left by the anemones. Clownfish care is easy as they can survive without anemones also.
• Wondering how clownfish protect themselves from the poisonous tentacles of the anemones? Well, they are protected from the venomous tentacles of the anemones by a layer of mucus which is present on their bodies.

     Do you know that manatees possess vocal chords which give them the ability to speak like humans, but don't do so because they have no ears with which to hear the sound.

     Manatees are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivores Marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows.
     Manatees are typically found in shallow coastal areas and rivers where they feed on sea grass, mangrove leaves, and algae. These herbivores munch on food for almost half the day, eating ten percent of their body weight in plant mass every day. With weights of up to 1,200 pounds, that is a whole lot of greenery.
     West Indian ( Trichechus manatus ) and West African (T. senegalensis ) manatees spend their lives on the cusp between salty and fresh water. They are able to maintain the correct balance in their bodies through an internal regulation system that works with the kidney to make sure salt concentrations never get too high. It is believed that West Indian manatees require some access to freshwater (PDF) in order to stay hydrated, but they are able to easily move between the two ecosystems.
     Manatee brains are smooth (compared to our own that have the familiar ins and outs of cortical folds) and the ratio of their brain to their body size is the lowest of any mammal . They may not be as clever as dolphins, but manatees can learn basic tasks, are extremely sensitive to touch and can differentiate colors.

Evening Readers, I just felt I needed to share this.

I don’t think about the past or regret things much these days. 

But sometimes I wish that I had known some of things I have learned over the last few years a bit earlier. That perhaps there had been a self-improvement class in school. And in some ways there probably was.

Because some of these 16 things in this article a teacher probably spoke about in class. But I forgot about them or didn’t pay attention.

Some of it would probably not have stuck in my mind anyway. Or just been too far outside my reality at the time for me to accept and use.

But I still think that taking a few hours from all those German language classes and use them for some personal development classes would have been a good idea. Perhaps for just an hour a week in high school. It would probably be useful for many students and on a larger scale quite helpful for society in general.

So here are 16 things I wish they had taught me in school (or I just would like to have known about earlier).