Chum The Shark

**Chum** is a character in Disney/Pixar's 2003 animated film *Finding Nemo*. He is an extremely hyperactive mako shark and a member of the Fish-Friendly Sharks support group. He, for fishing reasons, has a hook lodged to his snout. According to the movie, he hates dolphins as much as Anchor. Apparently, he ate his "friend" in the group, whom Marlin momentarily replaced.

## Role in the film

Chum is first seen in the film when Bruce brings Marlin and Dory to the meeting. He is seen swimming around in circles with Anchor and having a shoving contest with him as Bruce approaches. He complains that him and Anchor have already gone through the snacks and he's still starving. The next scene shows Chum at the meeting saying the pledge, although he recites it in a monotone and looks somewhat bored. He becomes more lively when Anchor mentions that dolphins are not their friends, he then says that dolphins think they are so cute. He then does an impression of a dolphin, complete with a "dolphin clap" which earns him a laugh from Anchor.<br
However, Bruce then moves on with the meeting and announces that the meeting was step five: bring a fish friend. When Bruce sees that Anchor had his friend, he asks Chum where his friend is. Chum then gets a suspicious look and claims to have misplaced his friend and lets out a smile only for a fish skeleton to pop out of his mouth. He quickly sucks it back in and gives Bruce an innocent smile. Bruce says that it was alright and knew that it would be a difficult step and offered Chum one of his friends. Chum grabs Marlin and hugs him under his fin, much to Marlin's discomfort. As Bruce continues to talk, Marlin tries to leave the mako's grasp only for Chum to pull him closer. When Bruce announces that he had not eaten a fish in three weeks, Chum begins to clap his fins, hitting Marlin numerous times as he did so. Once Dory goes up onstage and announces that she has never eaten a fish, he, as well as Bruce and Anchor, are stunned at first, but Chum breaks the silence by clapping and telling Dory, "That's incredible!"

When Bruce turns to Marlin to ask whether he wants to go onstage, Chum rubs Marlin with his fin. After Marlin is pushed up to the podium he says that he is a clownfish which excites the sharks. Chum gets so excited that when he jerks up he ends up hitting his head on one of Anchor's eyes. When he gets close to Marlin he is pushed back by Bruce and hits a metal object which results in a small "clang." He is able to shove his way in between his two friends telling Marlin that he loves jokes. Marlin agrees and starts to tell them a joke. However, as Marlin starts to rant, Chum loses interest, he then thinks that the joke's punchline is "Nemo", causing him to burst in a fit of laughter and tries to get Bruce to laugh only to stop short and stating, "I don't get it." He then learns that Marlin is talking about his son, who was taken by divers. Pitying Marlin, Chum comments that humans think they own everything. He is then shocked and shares a sympathy look with Anchor when he finds out that Bruce never knew his father, and as he gives his friend a hug, his words of advice are, "We're all mates here, mate."

As Bruce starts to calm down, Marlin and Dory reappear with a diver's mask which they start to fight over. When Marlin accidentally hurts Dory she starts to bleed causing Bruce to go into a feeding frenzy. Chum with the help of Anchor manages to subdue Bruce for a short time before the great white throws him off. As Bruce chases after the fish, Chum calls for Bruce to remember the steps and not fall off the wagon, he then chases after him only to get stuck in an escape latch with Anchor. Finally, before the end of the chase, he apologizes to Marlin and Dory about Bruce's behavior. Chum calls Bruce's attention to the torpedo that is about to hit a live mine. The three sharks swim away in fear as the torpedo hits the mine, which causes a large explosion.

His fate remains unknown throughout the movie until the end where he shows up at the reef, dropping off Dory from a meeting and telling her to keep up with the program before swimming off.

## Trivia

* In the *Finding Nemo* essential guide and sticker book, it is hinted that he hangs out with at least three different groups. The first one is the FEA which includes Bruce and Anchor, the second is a group of tough sharks that nickname him "snaggletooth", and the third is a group that includes posh sharks and refers to the former two groups as "reef-raff."
* Like his two other friends, he's shown to be able to stay still in water, despite his actual species being unable to do it in real life.
* He has a souvenir fishing hook lodged in his snout from a tussle with a fisherman.
* He seems to be the most hyper out of all three sharks. This would be fitting his nature, since Mako sharks are the fastest of all shark species.
* His hatred for humans, stating that they "Think they own everything" is also quite fitting, given that Mako sharks are common targets of trophy fishing.
* Chum is the only shark amongst the Fish-Friendly sharks group to have claspers, which are a sexual indicator on sharks in real life. These features are absent on Bruce and Anchor.