Files
Download Full Text (8.3 MB)
Publication Date
10-1-2018
Keywords
artists' books, Baker & Whitehill Annual Student Artists' Book Contest, fifth
Disciplines
Book and Paper
Student Status
Undergraduate student
Year of Graduation
2020
Major
Painting
Faculty / Course
Judy Sue Goodwin Sturges, The Artists Book
Materials + Techniques
paperclay, hot glue, wire, spray paint, paper, acrylic paint, string, glass jar
Student Narrative
Clownfish are quite unique, both in their relationship to sea anemones and their sequential hermaphroditism. While sea anemones have a deadly sting, clownfish have a mucous membrane that protects them and allows the clownfish to make its home within the anemone. This relationship is highly beneficial, as the anemone provides the clownfish with protection and leftovers from its own meals, and in return the clownfish lure other fish to provide the anemone with food as well as cleaning the anemone. Small groups of clownfish live in anemones, the largest of which is the only female of the group. The second largest of the group is a sexually mature male clownfish, called a secondary male, and the other fish living them them are all primary males, or non-reproductive males. If the female of the group was to die, then the secondary male would become the female and the largest of the primary males would take his place. The writing on the fish tells the story of this sequential hermaphroditism. In the beginning, we were all boys As we grew, some of us became pairs One matures female, the smaller male Our queen in the largest and all the boys follow her Hoping that one day we too can mature
Recommended Citation
Olson, Eleanor; Collections, Special; and Library, Fleet, "Changing Clownfish" (2018). 5th Baker & Whitehill Student Artists' Book Contest 2019. 35.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/specialcollections_bookcontest5th2019/35