Honestly, if you haven't seen Finding Nemo at this point, are you even living on Earth? It’s been decades since Pixar dropped this masterpiece, and yet we still can’t stop talking about it. Most of us grew up thinking we knew everything about these Finding Nemo cartoon characters, but the reality is a lot weirder—and occasionally grosser—than the movie lets on.
Pixar is famous for doing their homework, but they also know when to ignore a textbook for the sake of a good story.
The Protagonists: Beyond the Orange and White Stripes
Marlin is basically the poster child for parental anxiety. You can’t really blame him, though. After losing his wife, Coral, and about 400 of their unborn kids to a barracuda, the guy is a wreck. But here is the thing: biologically, Marlin wouldn’t just be a "nervous dad."
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Clownfish are sequential hermaphrodites. Basically, they are all born male. If the dominant female (Coral) dies, the most dominant male (Marlin) should have technically transformed into a female to lead the anemone. Obviously, Disney wasn't going to put "Marlin becomes a mom" in a 2003 kids' movie, but it’s a fun fact to ruin your friends’ childhoods at trivia night.
Then there's Nemo. Voiced by Alexander Gould, who was just nine at the time, Nemo’s "lucky fin" wasn't just a plot device; it was a character anchor. The sound designers actually used the sound of a paper towel flapping to create the noise of his small fin moving. It gives him that specific "hummingbird" vibe.
Dory is the soul of the film. Ellen DeGeneres brought this scatterbrained energy that turned a sidekick into a legend. While everyone laughs at her short-term memory loss, real-life Blue Tangs (the species Dory belongs to) are actually pretty smart. They can remember spatial layouts for months. So, the whole "P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney" thing? A real-life Dory probably wouldn't have forgotten it every five minutes.
The Tank Gang: A Misfit Collection of Captives
If the ocean scenes are an adventure, the dentist’s office is a heist movie. Leading the charge is Gill, voiced by Willem Dafoe. Gill is a Moorish Idol, a species notoriously difficult to keep in captivity. Most of them die in tanks because they are so picky about food and space. This makes Gill’s obsession with escaping way more grounded in reality than you’d think. He’s literally dying to get out.
The rest of the gang is a fever dream of personality quirks:
- Peach: A starfish who can apparently read human. Fun fact: Starfish don't have brains. They have a nervous system, but they aren't exactly deciphering dental charts.
- Gurgle: The germaphobe Royal Gramma. In the wild, these fish are actually quite peaceful, but Austin Pendleton’s performance makes him the most relatable character for anyone who survived 2020.
- Bloat: A Pufferfish voiced by Brad Garrett. When he gets mad, he puffs. In real life, this is a last-resort defense mechanism that’s incredibly stressful for the fish. But in the movie? It’s comedic gold.
- Deb (and Flo): Deb thinks her reflection is her sister, Flo. It’s a hilarious bit of "aquarium psychosis" that makes you realize how bored these fish actually are.
Why the "Vegetarian" Sharks Aren't That Crazy
"Fish are friends, not food." We all know the mantra. Bruce, Anchor, and Chum are the Great White, Hammerhead, and Mako sharks trying to go against their nature. Most people think a vegetarian shark is pure fiction.
However, science caught up to Pixar. In 2025, researchers confirmed that Bonnethead sharks actually eat a massive amount of seagrass—up to 60% of their diet. While a Great White like Bruce isn't going to survive on kelp salads anytime soon, the idea of a shark having a diverse diet isn't as "cartoonish" as we once believed.
Bruce was voiced by Barry Humphries (famous for Dame Edna), and he’s named after the mechanical shark used in Jaws. It’s a nice little nod to cinematic history.
The Supporting Cast: Surfers and Scary Dudes
You can't talk about Finding Nemo cartoon characters without mentioning Crush. The 150-year-old sea turtle is the ultimate "cool dad." Andrew Stanton, the film’s director, actually provided the voice for Crush. He originally did it as a "temp" track, but it was so perfect they kept it.
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The East Australian Current (EAC) is a real thing, too. It’s like an underwater highway. While turtles don't exactly "high-five" their way through it, they definitely use it to migrate.
On the darker side, we have the Anglerfish. This nightmare fuel lives in the "midnight zone." In the movie, Marlin and Dory encounter it in relatively shallow water after losing the mask. Biologically, that fish would have imploded from the pressure change long before it ever saw a clownfish. But hey, it made for one of the best chase scenes in animation history.
What You Should Actually Do Now
If this trip down memory lane has you wanting to buy a "Nemo" of your own, hold on a second. The "Nemo Effect" is a real phenomenon where demand for clownfish spiked after the movie.
- Check the Source: If you’re getting a pet fish, make sure it’s captive-bred, not wild-caught. Wild populations took a hit after the movie came out.
- Avoid Blue Tangs: Dory’s species, the Blue Tang, is notoriously hard to care for and often doesn't survive well in home aquariums.
- Support Reef Conservation: The Great Barrier Reef, where the movie starts, is facing massive bleaching. Donating to groups like the Great Barrier Reef Foundation is a way better way to celebrate the movie than buying a plastic tank.
- Re-watch with a Critical Eye: Next time you watch, look for the "A113" Easter egg. It’s on the camera the diver uses. It’s the room number at CalArts where many Pixar animators studied.
The real takeaway from these characters isn't just that they are funny or cute. It’s that they represent a fragile ecosystem. Marlin’s fear of the "Drop-off" is something we should probably share—not because of sharks, but because of how much that world is changing.