PERCULA CLOWNS IN ANEMONE - SOUTH PACIFIC  SOLOMON ISLANDS Two Percula clowns lounging around their anemone watch me with some curiosity. MORE MATTERS ON PERCULA CLOWNS and FISH COLLECTION Their humorous demeanor and attractive appearance works to their detriment, as they are the most collected of the clown species for aquarium sales. After the release of the animated movie Finding Nemo demand for this lovely little fish soared. The lead character in the movie is a Percula clown. Every kid on the planet had to have two. PLEASE people DO NOT buy your children these animals as pets. Save a dog or a cat from the pound. Saltwater aquariums are very difficult, expensive and time consuming to maintain. Lets leave them where they belong, in the ocean. More than eighty percent of the fish collected for this purpose die before ever reaching market and the remaining majority die in a few more weeks. The mortality rate overall is very close to ninety five percent or better. The methods used to collect these fish are cruel to the fish devastating to the underwater environment, leaving acres or miles of dead environment nothing can live in. Killing coral reefs that may have taken hundreds of years to form and they will never return from this kind of extinction. What is left is akin to the dark side of the moon. I have personally witnessed this kind of reef devastation and it is most heart breaking to see, knowing full well what wonderful life once thrived there. Both chemicals and explosives are used and in the process of collection, killing hundreds or thousands of other species just to collect one fish. Once the fish are stunned to decompress them quickly a sharp needle is used to puncture the swim bladder. The result of this is internal bleeding and massive infection to the majority of fish and is ultimately fatal. The use of explosives and chemicals kills all the surrounding life and coral reef leaving a desert beneath the sea. See them, enjoy them, study them, photograph them, but please do not touch or collect them. Take only photos  leave only bubbles.