10 Things You May Not Know About Nemo

1. Finding Nemo was released in 2003, but that wasn’t the first appearance of everyone’s favorite orange fish. If you looked carefully, you could spot a stuffed toy Nemo on a couch in Boo’s room in Monsters, Inc. Nemo would go on to make another cameo appearance in Toy Story 2 as a sticker on Andy’s toy box.

2. Leave it to Dory to forget Nemo’s name. Throughout the film she called him Fabio, Elmo, Bingo, Chico, and even Harpo.

3. How could you forget that name? His famous namesake is of course Captain Nemo from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Appropriately, Nemo means ‘nobody’ or ‘no one’ in Latin. Additionally, Nemo is the Latin variation of the ancient Greek term Outis, which also meant “nobody.” This was the pseudonym Odysseus employed to outwit the Cyclops Polyphemus. Now you know where Nemo got his elusiveness from! (Sharp-eyed Guests may also spot another meaning for “Nemo” in the queue for The Seas With Nemo & Friends, can you find it?)

4. Alexander Jerome Gould, who also provided the voice of Bambi in the 2006 film Bambi II, voiced Nemo. Gould is also well known for his role as Shane Botwin on the Showtime TV series Weeds.

5. What is Nemo’s favorite subject in Mr. Ray’s class? Oceanography of course!

6. If Nemo’s siblings had survived the barracuda attack, Nemo would have had hundreds of brothers but no sisters. In the real world, every clown fish is born male, and will only change to female if the sole breeding female dies. If the female dies, the breeding male changes sex. If you think about it, that means Marlin should have changed sex to become the dominant female once Coral died. But, hey, this is a family film!

7. It wouldn’t make Nemo feel better, but he’s quite a catch. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority regulates the number of permits that are issued to aquarium fish dealers who collect clown fish within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.

8. So how do Marlin and Nemo survive in the anemone’s tentacles anyway? Two reasons. First, they secrete a mucus that prevents the anemone from stinging them. Secondly, clown fish are immune to the anemone’s toxins. And of course there’s the magic of animation…

9. In the film, we are told that “all drains lead back to the ocean.” Well, that’s not exactly true. Waste water typically undergoes treatment before leading to the ocean, though in Sydney, much of the sewer system does go through pipes that lead deep offshore, though some pumping and filtering does occur. A cut sequence showing Nemo going through a treatment plant’s mechanisms was planned but not included in the final film. However, you can still see the logo for “Sydney Water Treatment” on the pipes in the ocean, indicating that Nemo did pass through some sort of water treatment system.

10. Nemo’s popularity led to the mass purchase of clownfish as pets in the U.S. This demand was met through large-scale harvesting of tropical fish in regions like Vanuatu. Tourism in Australia also increased following the film’s release, with people flocking to the Land Down Under in their quest to find Nemo for themselves!