Dear Vishi, is Nemo a Male or a Female?

Tags: letters

Unless you were living under a rock, it's very likely that you saw the movie - Finding Nemo. I liked Marlin who was nemo's dad who faught against the odds to recover his son. Can you tell me if nemo's dad was a male or a female?

That's a silly question. Of course Marlin was a male in the movie. But he was also a clownfish. Clownfish are hermaphrodite. Hermaphrodites are organisms which have both male and female reproductive organs. All clownfish are born as males. A male fish changes to female if there is no female available.

Do you know any other species that's a hermaphrodite? Most flowering plants are hermaphrodite. They disperse pollen as well as receive pollen. However they can also self-fertilize but plants avoid it because inbreeding causes harmful mutation. Inbreeding even in humans have deleterious effects on offspring.