When Finding Nemo hit theaters in 2003, it quickly became the highest-grossing G-rated movie of all time. Being top tuna for seven years (until the release of Toy Story 3) wasn’t an easy task for the fish-friendly film. The success of Finding Nemo had its share of downsides, namely the fact that it led to a significant rise in clownfish sales, pushing the adorable species closer to extinction. “I think it was a big surprise, because the message from the film was a very good one about conservation,” Karen Burke Da Silva, associate professor in biodiversity and conservation at Flinders University in South Australia, told The Washington Post. “It was about not taking Nemo out of the sea, but the opposite happened.”
Rightfully so, the release of Finding Dory tomorrow has conservationists on edge again. Will the paracanthurus hepatus, the species that Dory is, be put in a similar situation? Only time will tell. In the meantime, the Honest Trailers series is doing its part to remind everyone about all of the weird and irresponsible aspects of Finding Nemo. The main takeaway: The ocean is really dangerous and so is the land, so no fish is ever truly safe.
The video also points out that clownfish are sequential hermaphrodites, meaning that they change sex depending on their social environment. According to Slate, this is how Finding Nemo would have started if it was biologically accurate:
Father and mother clownfish are tending to their clutch of eggs at their sea anemone when the mother is eaten by a barracuda. Nemo hatches as an undifferentiated hermaphrodite (as all clownfish are born) while his father transforms into a female clownfish now that his female mate is dead. Since Nemo is the only other clownfish around, he becomes male and mates with his father (who is now female). Should his father die, Nemo would change into a female clownfish and mate with another male. Although a much different storyline, it still sounds like a crazy adventure!