But it would seem some aren’t so lucky, with scientists finding anemonefish from North Solitary Island don’t share the personality traits of their northern cousins.

Most species of anemonefish (including Amphiprion ocellaris, made famous by the movie Finding Nemo) live in tropical waters and in previous laboratory studies have been shown to exhibit personality traits.

But scientists have found while the anemonefish from Lord Howe Island, which live in a shallow, sheltered lagoon, were found to have distinct personalities, those from the deeper, more exposed waters at North Solitary Island lacked personality.

The paper’s lead author, marine biologist Dr Marian Wong from the University of Wollongong’s Centre for Sustainable Ecosystems Solutions, said there wasn’t enough variation between the A. latezonatus at North Solitary Island anemonefish to say the species exhibits personality traits.

‘’Personality traits have a big impact on our overall fitness as individuals – how well we survive, whether we reproduce, and whether or not we can find food – and it's the same for animals. Ultimately, all behaviour contributes to your ability to survive and reproduce,’’ Dr Wong said.

‘’It could also affect how well a species responds to future environmental challenges, including climate change.

“As this paper suggests, there are some species that don't appear to show personalities, which surprised us.’’

Fellow researcher Dr Anna Scott added one of the key behaviours scientists looked at was how individuals measured on the boldness-shyness continuum.

‘’The second was how aggressive they are to other individuals of the same species, so the number of times that they would bite or chase or show an aggressive posture towards another fish in that group,’’ she said.

‘’The third was sociability; the amount of time an individual followed another individual or met up with another individual.’’

The paper, “Some anemonefish lack personality: a comparative assessment of behavioural variation and repeatability in relation to environmental and social factors”, is published in Coral Reefs.

The research was funded by the Sea World Research and Rescue Foundation, the Australian Geographic Society, and was a collaboration between Southern Cross University’s Marine Ecology Research Centre and the Centre for Sustainable Ecosystems Solutions at the University of Wollongong.

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