Famous Fictional Fish in Real Life!

Many aquatic creatures have graced the silver screen – a few of those can be found at SEA LIFE Weymouth! Take a look at some of these famous fins.

Famous Fictional Fish in Real Life: How Many Can You Name?

 Some of our most beloved fictional characters are based on underwater creatures – fact! Ever since Pinocchio introduced audiences to the joys of anthropomorphised goldfish over 70 years ago, animators have been diving deeper and deeper into the oceans to find more inspirations for their characters: giving them a dose of humanity, a sense of humour, and a whole lot of heart.

A few SEA LIFE creatures have been given this treatment on the silver screen, so let us reel you in as we take a closer look at five of these famous fins – read on and see how many of them you can name!

Sebastian

Is it a lobster? Is it a crab? Even the House of Mouse can’t seem to make up their minds (Disney claims he's a crab yet the Disney Store labels the soft toy 'Sebastian the lobster') – but Sebastian is, in fact, a red Jamaican crab.

In the classic Disney flick, the Little Mermaid, Sebastian is the cautious crustacean that’s always watching out for Ariel and keeping her safe, while getting to lead some of the most memorable tunes… like this one.

Horsea

We’re sure that die-hard Pokémon fans would identify this water-type with ease. If it’s not obvious enough, Horsea is in fact based on – you guessed it – a seahorse! In the original anime series, Horsea is said to anchor itself by wrapping its tail around rocks or coral to prevent being washed away when the ocean current turns fast – much like its real-life peer does!

Speaking of seahorses, did you know we have a breeding programme here at SEA LIFE Weymouth, where we’ve successfully bred and reared nine different seahorse species so far. Read more about our conservation efforts!

Nemo

Nemo and Marlin are the father-and-son clownfish duo that gained worldwide recognition in 2003 when Finding Nemo was released. Here’s a fun fact about these stripy fins: they’re born hermaphrodites, meaning that they develop into males first, then become females as they mature. Other hermaphrodite fish include wrasses and moray eels.

Want to learn more about clownfish? Come to SEA LIFE and you may just ‘find’ a few Nemos yourself!

Bonus: You can’t talk about Nemo without mentioning Dory, right? We’ll always have a soft spot for this Whale-speaking blue tang even though she’s incapable of remembering our names for more than a few seconds.

Patrick Star

Patrick is the best friend and neighbour of SpongeBob of SpongeBob Squarepants (obviously). He’s quite overweight due to his laziness as well as his fondness of ice cream, Krabby Patties, Triple Gooberberry Sunrises, Krusty Combos, and other junk foods. While starfish don’t actually gain weight from eating desserts, they can, however, be quite heavy considering their sizes – weighing up to 11 pounds (almost 5kg)!

Don Lino

The main antagonist of Shark Tale, Don Lino is the head of his gang of great white sharks. On-screen, this big fish is portrayed as a vicious and aggressive predator, but not all sharks are gangsta-like. In fact, some species of sharks are known to be quite playful and friendly to divers. 

The ocean display at SEA LIFE Weymouth is home to a host of magnificent sharks – including bowmouth guitar shark, several blacktip reef sharks, and a couple of guitar shovelnose sharks!

Meet Your Favourite Fictional Fish

Whether you’re into your crabs or your clownfish, you can meet them all today at SEA LIFE Blackpool – they may not be able animated as their cartoon counterparts but we promise they’re equally colourful and appealing to the eye!