Street Roots • August 12-18, 2016
News
Page 8
Kevin Barden and the team of marine biologists at the University of Florida are the first to breed blue tangs in captivity.
photo courtesy of university of
Saving Dory
With the popularity of “Finding Dory, ” another Hollywood-fueled pet craze is upon us - this
time with fish illegally harvested from the wild, with no thought for them or the ecosystem
BY LUCY SWEET
orange and white stripey fish that has
almost taken the species towards
extinction. More than one million clownfish
e’d all love to own a cute film animal,
are illegally harvested from the Great
wouldn’t we? A rat that sits on your
shoulder and helps you make the dinner, Barrier Reef every year, with 90 percent of
the clownfish being supplied from the wild.
perhaps. Or a Mutant Ninja Turtle to eat
Karen Burke Da Silva, a marine biologist
pizza with. Or a ginger tabby, like Street
at
Flinders University in southwest
Cat Bob, who makes his film debut in
Australia,
was so concerned that a decade
November, and raises a paw to do clever
ago she and a group of colleagues founded
high-fives. Who wouldn’t want these guys
Saving Nemo, a project that aims to solve
as pets? It’s the stuff every kid’s dreams
the problem by breeding clownfish in
are made of.
captivity and supplying them to aquariums.
And thanks to Pixar’s “Finding Dory”
“There was a dramatic increase in
you can bet that parents everywhere will
demand after the movie, and there
find themselves pestered to come up with
continues to be a large interest in clownfish
the goods, in the form of a photogenic blue
as pets and in the marine aquarium trade
tang.
in general,” she said. “The industry is
Unfortunately, the reality is a lot less
huge, with millions of dollars being spent
appealing than the winsome character
voiced by Ellen DeGeneres. And it could be and millions of fish being taken from the
wild.”
an environmental disaster waiting to
The impact that “Finding Nemo” had on
happen.
the
wild clownfish population has been
There have been plenty of cute critter
devastating but at least they can exist
film heroes, from Bambi to Babe. But
clownfish are the first species in the animal comfortably in a tank, if they survive the
leap from the reef to your house. The blue
kingdom to drastically suffer from their
tang is a different kettle of fish.
silver screen fame. Back in 2003, “Finding
“I am particularly concerned about the
Nemo” created a demand for the small .
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
W
future of the blue tang,” said Da Silva. “If
the craze takes off then we have a real
problem, since 100 percent of them are
being taken from the reef and this species
could be in real trouble if illegal fishing
practices persist.”
Approximately 300,000 wild blue tang
were being traded globally in preparation
for demand due to “Finding Dory.” But
buying one could be a painful mistake. “If
these fish are taken into captivity, they
don’t make great pets,” said Da Silva.
“They have a toxic spine that can deliver a
big sting, and they grow too big for most
home aquaria.”
You would need at least a 75-gallon tank
if you wanted to house your own Dory as
they grow up to a foot long. Not so cute
now, is she?
Of course, pet crazes are nothing new.
Simon Drew, a scientist in geography at
Newcastle University in England, recalls
the misadventure that followed his
brother’s insistence on getting terrapins
after seeing the original Mutant Ninja
Turtles film in the late 1980s, when they
were readily available in pet shops but with
little information on their care. “Mum was
F lorida