Dory fishes may find their way from the big screen into home aquariums soon.
GAINESVILLE, FLa.- University of Florida researchers are saying the animated character Dory may become more accessible to people for their home aquariums.
On Tuesday researchers at the University of Florida Tropical Aquaculture Laboratory reported they had successfully bred Pacific blue tangs in captivity for the first time. This blue species is the replica species of Dory, the forgetful fish in the movies “Finding Nemo” and “Finding Dory.”
The fish character became popular after “Finding Nemo” and people of all ages patiently awaited the return of Dory in “Finding Dory.” As of July 19 the movies domestic total was at $449,766,179. Rotten Tomatoes is a popular movie critic that gave the movie with a 94% good rating. Accorinding to Fortune, in the movies opening weekend it topped the box office by bringing in $73.2 million. Only after a week of being released the movie only declined 46% giving it the eighth-highest second weekend of all time.
Blue tang fish are different from other fish in that they do not swim in schools of fish, instead they are normally found in pairs along the coral reefs. They have a unique defense mechanism to ward off big predators. These fish have spines along their back and tail that are venomous and unfold to inflict damage on the predator when the fish is caught.
With the successful breeding of the Pacific blue tangs in captivity researchers believe that one-day home aquariums and marine life exhibits might not have to rely on the capturing of the fish from the wild.
Craig Watson, the lab director, states the next step is helping commercial producers replicate the researcher’s success with key marine ornamental species.
The project has contributions from Rising Tide Conservation, the SeaWorld-Busch Gardens Conservation Fund and the Oceanic Institution of Hawaii Pacific University.
