Maroon clownfish
Amazing fact
When a group's female dies, a male maroon clownfish changes into a female.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
When a group's female dies, a male maroon clownfish changes into a female.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Maroon clownfish
- Scientific name
- Premnas biaculeatus
- Japanese name
- シロミスジ（スパインチークアネモネフィッシュ）
- Group
- Ocean animals
- Order
- Blenniiformes
- Family
- Pomacentridae
- Genus
- Premnas
An anemonefish of tropical seas from the eastern Indian Ocean to the Great Barrier Reef.
It has a spine on its cheek, which also gave it its English name (spinecheek anemonefish).
How the Maroon clownfish lives
They are active during the day. They eat plankton and algae. After settling on an anemone as juveniles, they stay in the same area as adults. During spawning, females swim in a zigzag over the nest.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity WebBasic data
- Range
- Tropical waters from the eastern Indian Ocean to the Great Barrier Reef
Where the Maroon clownfish has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 简体中文
- 棘颊雀鲷
- 繁體中文
- 棘頰雀鯛
- Español
- Pez payaso marrón
- Français
- Poisson-clown à joues épineuses
- Deutsch
- Samtanemonenfisch
- Italiano
- Pesce pagliaccio marrone
- العربية
- سمكة المهرج المارونية
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Balong
- Tiếng Việt
- Cá hề màu hạt dẻ
- Русский
- Мавританский клоун
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 鳥羽水族館 — シロミスジ（スパインチークアネモネフィッシュ）Checked: 2026-11-04
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Premnas biaculeatusChecked: 2026-11-06
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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