What the Fish? Episode 7: We Found Nemo

We Found Nemo and Friends... in the Field Museum Fishes Collection!

For ichthyologists and fish enthusiasts everywhere, Disney-Pixar's Finding Nemo is one of those rare pieces of art and cinema that captures the essence of being a fish from a dazzling number of perspectives. It is clear from the very first frame that great care and attention to detail was taken with each marine species and their oceanic habitats. Sure there are the occasional liberties taken, such as the bizarre combination of different deep-sea fish species to form the mutant anglerfish that terrorizes Marlin and Dory.  But overall the attention to detail in this movie is spectacular from a fishy point of view. Scales shimmer and reflect light, movement is superb, and more often than not each fish is recognizable down to an exact species. For this episode we recorded a commentary track that can be played alongside the movie where we discuss our favorite scenes, the science behind the fishy stars, the plausability of plot points from a biological point of view, and just some plain old fashioned yammering.

Can you name all these Finding Nemo species housed in our very own Field Museum zoological collections?

Link to the picture of our friend Grant Galland surrounded by a school of fish that we talked about in the podcast.