In the azure blue water of a sea a long way away from here, stood
a big rock in the middle of a sandy patch. On top of the rock
lived the Clownfish family. There was the father and the mother,
who had come here a long time ago. When they arrived, they had
found a beautiful anemone on top of the rock. They had decided
to stay, because clownfish always live in anemones. Now they lived
there with their two baby clownfish. You may think that this is
a funny place to live in, but remember that everything in this
story happens underwater, and everything is different there.
While the two baby clownfish were having a wonderful time playing
in and out of the anemone, daddy and mommy were very busy swimming
all around the anemone to make sure nobody in the sea would come
too close. Anybody who dares to challenge the parent clownfish
gets chased off. All the fish in the sea agree that it is a good
thing that clownfish are not too big, because if they were, they
would surely be one of the most dangerous animals under the water!
When the little clownfish become too playful, their parents tell
them to stop clowning around. Maybe that is why they are called
clownfish. Because they are still babies they stay very close
to the anemone and never leave it. The Clownfish family is very
happy in the anemone and would not want to live anywhere else.
One day a big red Grouper comes swimming along the reef, minding
his own business. He has noticed this pretty anemone on top of
the rock, with the nice fat little fish sheltering in its arms,
and comes a bit closer to have a better look at these tasty morsels.
Imagine his shock and surprise, when suddenly, seemingly out of
nowhere, there are two yapping, yellow blurs coming straight for
him. He does not hesitate for a moment, and as fast as he can,
he flees into the blue distance.
The grouper turns around so quickly and so unexpectedly that his
tail accidentally catches the anemone. The two little clownfish
are swept right out of the anemone by the big fish’s tail. They
are blown away from their mommy and daddy on the strong water
current in a big cloud of sand and dust. They tumble higgledy
piggeldy over backwards, down to the bottom of the sea. It happens
so quickly that it is all over before anybody knows what has happened.
When the water stops swirling the little clownfish around and
around, they try to see where they are, but they cannot see a
thing. All the sand in the water has been stirred up by the big
fish’s tail and now they do not know where their home or their
mommy and daddy are.
“What was that? What happenned?” says one of the little clownfish.
“Where has everyone gone? We must go and look for them and find
them quickly. Maybe it is that way,” says the other and peers
into the distance where there is a dark shape, barely visible.
Every other direction in which they look reveals nothing, just
vast empty space. This is all a bit frightening, but finally they
pluck up their courage and carefully pick their way among the
pebbles and stones on the bottom, until they have reached the
dark shape. This turns out to be a big rock, standing in the middle
of a sandy patch. But they cannot see their mommy and daddy anywhere.