Is There A Mutual Relationship Between Clownfish And The Sea Anemone?

When discussing mutual relationships, one way to look at it is through relationships that we can relate to or that involve us personally. Our parents, our siblings, our family and friends could all be examples of mutual relationships that we experience on a day-to-day basis. Another way to look at it, though, is by observing mutualistic relationships in nature. A bee pollinating a flower while simultaneously getting nectar for itself, Oxpecker birds feeding on ticks off zebra, and Rainforest Caterpillars feeding ants for protection in return are all examples of mutual relationships in nature. These benefit both parties involved. One such intricate connection worth exploring is the link between clownfish and the sea anemone. It is an amazing

display of the kind of symbiosis to be found in nature.
Clownfish, also fittingly referred to as anemonefish, are small fish that live in areas of the Pacific Ocean.

They live at the bottom of shallow waters and in warmer areas. The clownfish don’t live alone, though. They live in and alongside sea anemone, a marine animal that looks less like an animal and more like an aquatic plant. The colorful tentacles that make up the sea anemone attract different types of marine life that it then shocks and immobilize before consuming the paralyzed creatures.
Although the tentacles of the sea anemone are highly toxic to other fish, the clownfish are not affected. This is because the clownfish have a special coating around them that protect them from the anemone’s tentacles. The clownfish can live and traverse the sea anemone without being detected as an intruder by the tentacles of the animal. This is why the clownfish and sea anemone can and often do help each other in a mutual relationship.
Both the clownfish and the sea anemone benefit from each other in the areas of the Pacific and Indian oceans where they coexist. The sea anemone benefits the clownfish by paralyzing and capturing any predators of the clownfish and providing it with bits of food that the anemone does not eat. The anemone also provides a home for the clownfish and it’s offspring. The clownfish benefit the sea anemone by warding off predators that could harm it, while also cleaning it of parasites and waste produced by the sea

anemone.
My generation prides itself on being connected by modern technology through social media. I find it interesting that the animal kingdom has been proving the importance of connection, helpfulness and peaceful coexistence for millions of years. Relationships exist between many different types of organisms, mutualistic or otherwise. Although we are the higher form of life, there is much we can learn from what can be observed in the natural world.