Marlin

Jelly-Man

Dude

Mr. Bossy

Conscience

Dad

Daddy

Clowny

399 other children †

Nemo's father Marlin is the most devoted parent on the reef. He's determined to look after Nemo and make sure nothing bad happens to him. When a human diver catches Nemo, Marlin sets out on a heroic trek to find him, and becomes famous as the ocean's most daring father. Marlin is proud of being a clownfish , and would be a funny one too, if anyone lets him finish his jokes. He first appears in the pilot episode "True Lovin’"

## Likes/Friends

### Friends

* Nemo
* Dory
* Mr. Ray
* Tad
* Pearl
* Sheldon
* Bruce
* Anchor
* Chum
* Blue Whale
* Crush
* Squirt
* Nigel
* Jenny
* Charlie
* Bailey
* Destiny
* Hank
* Becky
* Fluke and Rudder
* Antonio
* Rachel
* Boon
* Jaison
* Kayden

### Likes

* His Family
* Safety

## Dislikes/Enimies

### Enimies

* Dentist
* Barracuda
* Jellyfish
* Anglerfish
* The Seagulls
* Giant Squid

### Dislikes

* Losing his son
* Dory's singing
* being overprotective
* hurting others
* danger
* Hooks

## Life Story

Marlin was born in a large family Australia's Great Barrier Reef. One of 103 Brothers and sisters, he always tried to get attention by telling his family his jokes, but nobody thought they were funny. When he finally met a girl who found his jokes were funny, he decided to stop clowning around and marry her.

## Marlin's Biggest Fears

* **Attack by Barracuda**: These spear-toothed eating machines shred first and ask questions later.
* **Nobody will help him**: all Marlin wants to do is to find his son, but friendly fish can be hard to find in Marlin's eyes. He is especially frustrated by Moonfish, who would rather do impressions than give directions.
* **Becoming fish and chips**: Marlin thinks that everything in the sea is waiting to eat him. However, after going though the ocean's trials to find his son, he overcomes his fears.

## Trust Dory

Marlin meets a blue-tang fish named Dory during his quest to find Nemo. They become friends. In fact, Dory is the reason why Marlin has become a better father. She makes him realize that if he never lets anything happen to Nemo, than nothing will ever happen to him.

## Biology

### Physiology

Depending on species, Marlin is overall orange, and shows three white bars or patches. Marlin can reach a length of 15–16 cm (5.9–6.3 in), while his son barely achieves 7–8 cm (2.8–3.1 in). Marlin's large eyes always watch for danger. His three white stripes help him confuse predoters so they don't eat him or his son.

### Behaivior

Marlin was initially a very playful, happy, and easygoing clownfish as shown through the interaction with his wife. He was shown to be slightly lazy, as he wanted to name half of his children Marlin Jr. and the other half of his children Coral Jr. However, he was also shown to be very brave, as he attempted to defend his wife against the barracuda who sought to eat his children and his mate, but was ultimately repelled and knocked unconscious and into the sea anemone before he could do anything. This protected him, but also cost him his entire family, with the exception of Nemo, who was left with a crack in his egg, which could have caused his "lucky fin".

From this moment on, Marlin became overprotective, neurotic, paranoid, worrisome, and pessimistic, as he made several practices and conditions for Nemo and himself to follow to make sure they were protected and safe. He became paranoid and neurotic about any potential danger that could occur to Nemo and as such rarely left Nemo alone due to the traumatic experience of losing the rest of his family to a barracuda attack, and not wanting the same thing to happen to Nemo. However, this overprotectiveness is what put somewhat of a strain on his relationship with his son, as Nemo felt suffocated and oppressed by it.

He also seems to, initially, be very serious, as shown when he couldn't tell a proper joke to some of Nemo's classmates' parents because he kept explaining obvious aspects of the joke, causing him to be considered unfunny despite the apparent notion that all clownfish were supposed to be funny, which became a recurring gag throughout the movie as others state, "He's not very funny for a clownfish".

During his journey, Marlin was on the verge of losing Nemo, the only family he had left, and was rushing as fast as he could to save Nemo. This caused him to have little patience for Dory's antics and to other sidetracks.

However, despite these qualities, Marlin has proven to love his son more than anything and anyone in this world, and it is this love that fuels his determination, strength, courage, and bravery as he journeyed throughout the sea to find his son after he is kidnapped by humans. Marlin overcame these obstacles with bravery and courage not seen in his previous behavior to recover the person he loved most in the world despite the odds being against him.

Throughout the journey, he makes several friends and begins to understand that he should have given Nemo more freedom, particularly through his interactions with Dory and Crush because, as Dory states, "You can't let nothing happen to him, because then nothing will happen to him", meaning if Marlin doesn't let Nemo grow up and get out in the world, he won't be able to live life to the fullest.

He also begins to enjoy himself throughout his journey, and slowly sheds his serious personality, as shown when he had fun when he competed with Dory in racing to see who could get out of the jellyfish valley first and finally managed to have fun with his son Nemo by the end of the film.

### Diet

As stated in The scrapped “Fnding Nemo 2” Marlin and Nemo are omnivorous and can feed on undigested food from their host anemone, and the fecal matter from Marlin and Nemo provides nutrients to the sea anemone. Marlin and his son primarily feed on small zooplankton from the water column, such as copepods and tunicate larvae, with a small portion of their diet coming from algae, as well as debris. They may also consume the tentacles of their host anemone, which Nemo has a weird feeling about.

## Trivia

* In *Monsters, Inc.*, a painting of Marlin can be seen on the wall behind the Sushi Chef.
* As pointed out by Nigel, a marlin is actually a type of billfish (such as the sailfish and swordfish) that is popularized by sport fishing.
* In reality, clownfish are protandrous hermaphrodites (meaning they are born male but can change sex later in life), so whenever a female clownfish within a school of fish dies, a male will change gender to make up for the death and mate with the other male.
	+ Scientifically speaking, if *Finding Nemo* had been more accurate to nature, Marlin would have become female shortly after his wife's death. This would have made him Nemo's mother, not his father.
* Marlin was originally voiced by William H. Macy, who actually had all his lines recorded when Pixar decided to change the voice to actor Albert Brooks.
* Marlin’s first major role was in “Hooking Nemo”