Clownfish 24 July 2010

Bad news! I just went diving with Dietmar on our house reef and when we came to the anemone that has been the clownfish's home for who knows how long, there were only 3 residents there. "My" fish has gone! Dietmar and I searched the surrounding area, just in case the fish had found a new home, although why he would do that, I'm not sure. But it's called Hope, I guess. Well, no such luck, we couldn't find him and I am afraid that means that he has gone to Fishie Heaven.

Lexa had asked a friend of hers about the eye sight in the fish's left eye and it was confirmed that most likely, he was blind in that eye. This would certainly make it a lot harder for him to be on the look-out for predators. I had also thought that he looked a bit skinnier lately, but as he still appeared to eat well, I wasn't too worried about that. But coming to think of it, he had some funny stuff hanging out of his mouth when I last saw him on 19 July. It looked almost like snot, and it didn't disappear the whole time I was hanging around, taking pictures, which would have been at least 6 - 7 minutes. It didn't look like he even noticed this, he certainly didn't try to get rid of it. Maybe that was the first sign that something wasn't right?

Look at the arrows, you can faintly see the slimey
stuff hanging from his mouth.

Byebye Fishie!
Last picture taken on 19 July 2010