The Voice

Issue date: 10/19/06 Section: nation/world

Media Credit: Washington Post photo by James A. Parcell Clownfish, like the ones depicted in the animated film "Finding Nemo," are among the most popular aquarium fish in the world.

CAMBRIDGE, Md.-Under ideal conditions, a single clownfish can lay enough eggs to produce more than 500 minuscule, wriggling hatchlings.

So when researchers at a University of Maryland lab started breeding clownfish in captivity, it was easy to see that they were not creating ideal conditions. Their first six-plus months of effort, funded by thousands in federal grant money, produced two juvenile fish.

"Those fish were probably worth about $10,000 apiece," given all the time and money spent to produce them, joked Andrew M. Lazur, a professor at the Horn Point Laboratory on the Eastern Shore, part of the university's Center for Environmental Science.

More than a year later, any visitor can see that things have improved. Experiments to mass-produce large and vividly colored clownfish (star of the animated film "Finding Nemo") have produced a laboratory full of thousands of orange and white Nemo look-alikes. The researchers are scheduled to share some of what they've learned with would-be fish farmers at an open house Saturday.

Clownfish are among the most popular species of aquarium fish in the world. A United Nations report found that at least 145,000 of them were traded internationally between 1997 and 2002. And that was before the 2003 release of "Finding Nemo," a father-and-son clownfish adventure that increased interest in the fish worldwide. Environmentalists say the popularity is a serious danger for the fish.

Though half of the clownfish bought in the United States are raised in captivity (a higher percentage than for other tropical aquarium fish), half are still plucked from the wild, according to John Brandt, North America director for the Marine Aquarium Council. His group sets international standards for the collection and trade of ornamental fish.

Conserving wild fish is one reason researchers at the University of Maryland, along with scientists at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island, are trying to perfect techniques for raising clownfish in captivity.

Since a clownfish smaller than a poker chip can bring $6 or more wholesale, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has given the two institutions more than $150,000 in grants to find ways to make raising the fish easier.

"That's pretty ideal right there," said Lazur, standing in his lab one recent day and pointing at a tank that held more than $1,000 worth of tiny clownfish. "That's an attractive fish."

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