In an interview with National Geographic magazine , he said that the idea for the characters of Marlin and Nemo came from a photograph of two clownfish peeking out of an anemone : In addition , clownfish are very colorful , but do not tend to come out of an anemone very often .
In an interview with National Geographic magazine , he stated that the idea for the characters of Marlin and Nemo came from a photograph of two clownfish peeking out of an anemone : Also , clownfish are very colorful , but do n't tend to come out of an anemone very often , and for a character who has to go on a dangerous journey , Stanton felt a clownfish was the perfect kind of fish for the character .