Amphiprion chrysopterus
Cuvier, 1830
Orange-fin clown
Amphiprion chrysopterus
is the clown most often found in Heteractis
crispa, an anemone with long pointed tentacles that is mostly found
on seaward reefs in the Marshalls. As of this writing (March 2017), there are
fewer of this clownfish present on the reef due to the near or, by now, perhaps
complete loss of the Heteractis crispa anemones. Those fish remaining
are now usually in Stichodactyla
mertensii.
The Heteractis crispa anemones below were bleached--expelled their symbiotic
zooxanthellae--during the El Niño of 2009, when water temperatures peaked
at 86°F (30°). Most seem to have recovered by early 2010, but were then
hit with similar bleachings in 2013 and 2014. After this, this anemone species
just about disappeared from Kwajalein. Although it was once the most common of
the clownfish hosting anemones, it became very rare, and over a two year span,
we saw only two of these anemones. The 2016 bleaching, one of the worst, may have
done those in as well.
Created 1 September 2010
Updated 16 March 2017
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