“I would like to share with all of you a great piece of news from our Marine Aquarium at Commonwealth Secondary School.
“A pair of Ocellaris Clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris) has started to reproduce in our Marine Aquarium.
“When two clownfish are paired, the couple stays together for several years. Upon spawning period in the courtship, the males attract the females by extending their fins and dancing in front of the female.
“The male and female then begin to clean up a patch of rock at the base of their favourite host sea anemone.
“The female swims over the cleaned surface and starts to deposit about 200-400 eggs, while the male follows behind to fertilise them.
“The male will assume an aggressive behaviour to guard and protect the eggs until they hatch, removing dead eggs to prevent fungal growth, fanning the eggs using his mouth and fins to prevent algae from growing on top of them and removing debris.
“We have recorded a footage of the male taking care of the eggs.
“Each egg looks like a tiny bright orange capsule, measuring about 2-3 mm long and 1 mm wide. Over the few days, the eggs would turn dark and pairs of silvery eyes would become more and more visible. One day prior to hatching, the eggs develop a silver colour.
“Depending on temperature, the eggs would take a total of 8-10 days to hatch.
“Eco Club students, Shaha Muhammad Muneer (Class 2-6) and Kim Jeongyeon (Class 2-4) have been covering the progress of the eggs development since last Thursday.”
Jacob Tan Guanrui
Senior Teacher (Biology)
Commonwealth Secondary School
Singapore
20th September 2017
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