Finding Nemo
Professor R. Craig Albertson of UMass Amherst joins us for a kid-friendly introduction as part of Science on Screen®, exploring how fish move and other fun facts about life under the sea.
In the colorful and warm tropical waters of the Great Barrier Reef, a Clown Fish named Marlin lives safe and secluded in his anemone home with his only son, Nemo.
Fearful of the ocean and its unpredictable risks, he struggles to protect his son. Nemo, like all young fish, is eager to explore the mysterious reef.
When Nemo is unexpectedly taken far from home and thrust into a tacky dentist’s office fish tank, Marlin finds himself the unlikely hero on an epic journey to rescue his son.
$5 Family Films are presented with support from The Center School and HilltownFamilies.org.
Topic: Fish School—Exploring and illustrating how fish move and other fun facts about life under the sea
Fishes come in a dizzying array of shapes and sizes, and different species are often exquisitely adapted to their particular way of life: From large ocean-wondering tuna, built for speed and long-distance travel, to the bashful but deadly goosefish, which bury themselves up to their eyes in the sand, and wait to ambush anything that swims overhead. For the most part, the animators of FINDING NEMO got it “right” when it comes to fish movement, which is because Disney/Pixar has a long tradition of hiring scientists as consultants for their animated movies. I will talk a little bit about this intersection between science and art, as well as explore some of the more bizarre examples of fish form and function, and the many ways in which they continue to inspire human creativity and innovation.
Speaker: R. Craig Albertson—Professor, Department of Biology at UMass Amherst; Graduate Program Leader, Organismic & Evolutionary Biology, UMass Amherst; Editor in Chief, Evolution & Development
Dr. Albertson suffers from a lifelong obsession with all things strange and bizarre in the natural world. He also has a keen desire to understand how biodiversity on this planet came to be. These dual interests led him to be training in evolutionary biology with a focus on fishes. More specifically, his work seeks to understand the “rules” by which genetics, developmental biology, and the environment conspire to shape fish diversity.
