Clownfish Facts for Kids
Amphiprion ocellaris · am-FIP-ree-on oh-sell-AIR-iss
A small fish that lives safe inside the stinging tentacles of an anemone.
- 🏃 speed: not yet checked
- ⚖️ weight: not yet checked
- 📏 3.5 in9 cm1 long
- 🎂 lifespan: not yet checked
- 🍽️ plants and animals
- Doing fine (Least Concern)
Clownfish are small orange fish with white stripes. They live in a sea anemone, which looks like a soft flower. The anemone stings other fish, but not the clownfish.
A clownfish wears a coat of slippery mucus that keeps the anemone's sting from hurting it. In return, the clownfish chases away fish that nibble the anemone, and it keeps the anemone clean. A group of clownfish lives together in one anemone, and the biggest one is the boss.
Clownfish and sea anemones help each other, a partnership scientists call mutualism. The anemone gives the fish a safe home, and the fish brings it food scraps, cleans it and keeps nibbling fish away. All clownfish begin as males; in each group the biggest becomes the female, and the next biggest is her partner. Clownfish stay close to their anemone, darting back in among the tentacles when danger shows up.
How big is a clownfish?
Clownfish in numbers
| Length | 3.5 in9 cm1maximum length of Amphiprion ocellaris, total length |
|---|---|
| Height at the shoulder | no checked number yet |
| Weight | no checked number yet |
| Top speed | no checked number yet |
| How long it lives | no checked number yet |
| What it eats | algae, tiny animals in the water, and scraps from around the anemone |
| Where it lives | warm coral reefs of Southeast Asia and northern Australia |
| What kind | Fish |
| Is it in danger? | Doing fine (Least Concern)2 |
A number we couldn’t find on a page we trust says so, instead of guessing.
Wow!
- A clownfish's slimy coat keeps the anemone's sting from hurting it.
- All clownfish start out male, and the biggest in a group becomes female.
- A clownfish hardly ever wanders far from its anemone.
Compare the clownfish
Friends and neighbours
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Lined seahorse
Green sea turtleThree questions
Books about the clownfish, free at the library
Ask a grown-up to tap the button: it shows where to borrow a book about the clownfish for free.
Where these numbers come from
- US Geological Survey, Nonindigenous Aquatic Species: clown anemonefish profile, checked 30 October 2026.
- Wikidata, from the IUCN Red List, checked 30 October 2026.
- Wikidata, Clownfish (Q1126155), checked 30 October 2026.