Emily Brown
Finding Nemo is up there with some of the most memorable Pixar movies, so much so that fans still welcomed a sequel after 13 long years had passed.
Marlin's determination to track down his son and the fun - and sometimes dangerous - creatures he encountered along the way all contributed to making his journey captivating, and thankfully it all paid off when, spoiler alert, he successfully found Nemo.
The film is both heartwarming and educational - after all, you should never ignore your parents and venture beyond the reef (or the relevant area in your own life) - but unfortunately it's not very scientifically accurate.
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That's not only because it features talking fish, but also because clownfish like Nemo and Marlin don't necessarily behave how they do in the film.
You might remember that Nemo's mum, Coral, dies along with a number of her eggs in a barracuda attack, which is how Marlin comes to raise Nemo alone.
It's a heartbreaking story, but it's interesting to know that if the film was scientifically accurate, Coral would have actually been born a male, as is the case with all clownfish.
The species have the ability to change sex, so Coral would have had to do this before laying her eggs.
It's the largest and most dominant clownfish among those sharing the same sea anemone that changes into a female, after which the second largest - in this case, Marlin - develops functioning testes to fertilise the eggs laid by the now-female.
When one of the parents dies, they are replaced by the next-highest fish in the ladder.
If it's the mother who dies, the father will change sex to become the matriarch, and the next-highest fish will become the new man of the anemone.
So, according to the book The Extreme Life of the Sea from authors Stephen R. Palumbi and Anthony R. Palumbi, if Finding Nemo were scientifically accurate, Marlin would have changed sex to replace Coral, and Nemo would have developed functioning testes and the pair would have had incestuous children.
Upon being made aware of this alternative storyline, fans of the film were quick to express their surprise and gratitude that such events weren't included in the Pixar film.
Amid a flurry of shocked-face memes, one Twitter user wrote: "Glad that didn’t happen. Would’ve ruined the film imo."
Lol we really didn’t need to know 😭
— Adè, The Studio. (@code_wonders) July 29, 2022
Another commented: "You know… you don’t gotta tell me everything... some things can be left alone."
A third wrote: "Why would you try to ruin my day like this?"
Thankfully I can't imagine Disney will be following up this thread any time soon, so fans can choose to ignore the reality and instead just focus on the nice father-and-son relationship presented in the film.
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