Description

The Cinnamon Clownfish, Fire Clownfish, Red & Black Anemonefish, Black-Backed Anemonefish or Dusky Anemonefish is a widely distributed Anemonefish chiefly found in the western and southern parts of the Pacific Ocean where their nest size can range from 300 – 500 eggs. The species scientific name ‘melanopus’ is Greek, meaning black feet in reference to the black pelvic fins. Although juveniles have white lines on their heads, the adults completely lack a head bar. As they mature these fish will develop a dark saddle on each side of the body. Fire Clownfish are bold fish that rarely tolerate others invading their home territory or anemone. They are extremely hardy and reach a maximum size of around 4 inches when full grown.

Like all Anemonefishes, Cinnamon Clownfish form a symbiotic mutualism with sea anemones and is unaffected by the stinging tentacles of the host anemone. It is a sequential hermaphrodite with a strict sized based dominance hierarchy: The female is largest, the breeding male is second largest, and the male non-breeders get progressively smaller as the hierarchy descends. They exhibit protandry, meaning the breeding male will change to female if the sole breeding female dies, with the largest non-breeder becomes the breeding male.