The Truth Behind "Finding Nemo" Is Really Going To Mess With Your Head

    It's a fictional movie for children, but if it were scientifically accurate, it would be a WHOLE DIFFERENT SITUATION.

    Davi Rocha
    by Davi Rocha

    Equipe BuzzFeed, Brasil

    It started with this series of tweets from a Brazilian twitter user called @thelumikki back in 2015. Fair warning, you'll never see Finding Nemo the same after this.

    Twitter: @thelumikki
    Twitter: @thelumikki
    Twitter: @thelumikki

    BuzzFeed Brazil spoke with an honest-to-goodness oceanographer named Lúcia Safi from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, and an ACTUAL biologist named Carolina Jacobini from the Federal University of São Carlos, and both scientists CONFIRMED THIS THEORY!!!

    Let's get into the details! Nemo and his dad are clownfish. All members of this species are born hermaphroditic.

    Pixar

    They've got both female and male sex organs, and only become male or female when they're young.

    They change sex according to the needs of their group, and it's totally normal and fine. Definitely more evolved that the human race.

    Pixar

    Clownfish live in groups with several males and one alpha female, and every family MUST HAVE a female. When the mother of a family dies, one of the males will stop producing male hormones and become the new alpha female. It's worth noting that the alpha female FUCKS ALL THE DUDES IN THE GROUP. She's not the alpha for nothing, sweetheart.

    So the science in Finding Nemo doesn't really stack up. Someone get John Lasseter on the phone.

    Pixar

    (I suppose it's worth remembering that we're talking about a fictional movie for children, so we can let it slide. This time.)

    It starts with the name "Nemo," which is Latin for "no one." Nemo doesn't have a male or female identity yet. He's not one or the other, but either.

    Davi Rocha/BuzzFeed Brasil/Pixar

    And after the death of the group's female, Marlin wouldn't continue to be a male fish.

    Davi Rocha/BuzzFeed Brasil/Pixar

    Because according to the movie, Marlin and Nemo are the only two clownfish left in their group. At the start of the movie, we see Nemo's parents depositing eggs in an anemone. Nemo's mom gets eaten, and only Marlin and Nemo survive. From that moment, Marlin should have already started to change sexes. (It also doesn't make any sense that the group is so small. They're usually made up of a lot more fish.)

    But that's not all. If Nemo's former-father-now-mother were to die, Nemo himself would become a female and mate with another male clownfish.

    Pixar

    So in conclusion, Finding Nemo should have OPENED with Marlin becoming Nemo's new mommy... and then having sex with him.

    Pixar

    Taking all this new information into account, the plot synopsis of the movie is suddenly looking a lot different...

    Pixar

    "Marlin, a single clownfish father, thought his life was already complicated when he became a widower. Little did he know that it was about to get a lot stranger when forces of nature transformed him into a female and compelled him to fall in love with his own son. Their relationship, fraught with confusion, will both shock and touch you."

    This post was translated from Portuguese.