Finding Nemo Characters

I remember the first time I saw Finding Nemo. I was 12, eating bagel bites, and watching, with awe, this animated movie about fish. I hate fish and yet, I was loving every second of this movie. I remember trying to think about why I was so enamored with the film, why this one, over so many other Pixar movies, stood out to me. Then I recall, I realized — it was because all the Finding Nemo characters are so, so weird (in the best way, of course)> Every character in Finding Nemo brings something different to the table, as they're unique and have their own voices, personality quirks, and identities. In short - they're awesome characters, and I'm excited to see so many of them return for Finding Dory.

It's easy for movies to fall flat with lackluster characters, but luckily for Finding Nemo, that wasn't the case — and even better, the plot was just as compelling as the characters who inhabited the movie's world. The many creatures that made Finding Nemo so memorable are some of the strangest, silliest, funniest ones to appear in any animated movie, and so in preparation for the sequel to Finding Nemo, Finding Dory, I've decided it would behoove myself to go back and rank the characters of Finding Nemo from sweet — if a bit bland — to adorably, memorably kooky.

Finding Nemo. A tale which follows the comedic and eventful journeys of two fish, the fretful Marlin and his young son Nemo, who are separated from each other in the Great Barrier Reef when Nemo is unexpectedly taken from his home and thrust into a fish tank.

1. Nemo

Nemo is spunky, precocious, curious, and just like any other kid. Out of everyone in the movie, this little fin is probably the most 'normal.'

2. Marlin

OK, so he's kind of neurotic and super over-protective, but that just makes him a pretty regular parent.

3. Mr. Ray

Mr. Ray seems like your average school teacher who likes his job and his students, then returns home alone to make the next recipe from his paleo cookbook and catch up on Game of Thrones. Just a regular dude under the sea.

4. The Seagulls

They seem like regular, real-life seagulls. Nothing weird about that.

5. Bloat

Bloat is fairly on-brand for being a pufferfish. He puffs when his emotions are heightened, not unlike me after a bottle of wine and an episode of Grey's Anatomy.

6. Crush

Besides having a funny surfer dude voice, Crush is pretty much what I'd imagine a sea turtle of his caliber to be like. Crush is just a chill dad, with an equally chill son.

7. Squirt

Like father, like son. A friendly kid turtle with a thirst for adventure.

8—10. Sheldon, Pearl, Tad

Nemo's friends from school aren't given much personality, but they seem like your average elementary school students.

11. Peach

Aside from her belief that she can 'read humans,' Peach is just a totally normal, cage-dwelling starfish.

12. Bubbles

Bubbles is a bit, well, fishy. He's obsessed with, what else, bubbles, and he makes sure everyone knows it. A bit odd.

13. Gill

A fish with a death wish, Gill is like some weird aquatic version of Liam Neeson's character in Taken. There's something about him that both impresses me and creeps me out at the same time.

14. Jacques

Jacques is a shrimp who does the 'cleaning' of the tank — willingly. That's kind of weird to me.

15. Dory

Dory's a pretty odd fish. She has short-term memory loss, yes, but is just a quirky character overall. She's definitely one of the stranger fish in this ocean.

16—17. Chum & Anchor

Chum is a shark that doesn't eat fish, but he does it to be part of the group. Same goes for Anchor. Stop denying who you are, guys!

18. Bruce

Bruce is a shark that started a group whose mantra is 'fish are friends, not food.' That might be fine for humans, but for a shark? No, Bruce. Fish are food for your species. Get over it.

19. Gurgle

Gurgle is.. bizarre. He's pessimistic and a germaphobe and kind of an overall buzzkill.

20. Deb / Flo

Deb thinks she has a sister named Flo. Flo is just her reflection. Well, then.

21. Nigel

Nigel is a pelican that willingly goes to the dentist, where he likes to diagnose patients. Um, what?!

22. Dr. Philip Sherman

He's related to Darla. Enough said.

23. Darla

To put it simply: Darla is the worst.

And there you have it, 23 of Finding Nemo's characters, ranked. Now, here's hoping we see some of these familiar faces in Finding Dory and that the new characters the movie introduces are even more memorable.

Images: Pixar; Giphy (23)

This is a list of the characters featured in the Pixar film 'Finding Nemo'.

Main Characters

Marlin

Marlin is an ocellaris clownfish whose wife Coral is killed by a barracuda, along with 399 of their 400 eggs. Because of this tragedy, he develops agoraphobia and becomes extremely overprotective of his son Nemo and is very scared to go out into the ocean, After Nemo is taken to Sydney by Phillip Sherman, Marlin gives chase and begins his travels searching for his son. A running gag in the film is whenever Marlin mentions he's a clownfish, other fish demand he tells them a joke. He only knows one joke, and frequently gets it wrong, prompting Bruce to remark, 'For a clownfish, he's not that funny.' At the end of the film he apparently tells the joke correctly, and is seen telling the punchline of it. Voiced by Albert Brooks.

Nemo

Nemo is a young baby and a friendly ocellaris clownfish, Marlin and Coral's son, and the sole survivor of a barracuda attack. Damage to his egg left one of Nemo's fins smaller than the other, affecting his ability to swim. Marlin refers to Nemo's misshapen fin as his 'lucky fin.' When Nemo is captured by divers, one of whom is a dentist, they take him to Sydney, Australia. Nemo eventually finds himself in a marine aquarium in the dentist's office, where he meets a group of marine animals known collectively as 'The Tank Gang'. Nemo is accepted into the Gang and helps their leader Gill try to escape. Nemo is approximately 1.2 inches in length. Nemo's name comes from anemone ('a nemo'), the home of a clownfish. Nemo is also the name of the famous Captain Nemo from Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, which in turn is taken from the Latin word 'nemo' meaning 'nobody'. Voiced by Alexander Gould.

Dory

Dory is a Regal Tang that Marlin collides with while pursuing the boat that is carrying his son, Nemo. Dory suffers from short-term memory loss. Dory accompanies Marlin in his search for his son, and her lack of short-term memory provides much of the film's comic relief. Dory's optimism and her free spirit help Marlin throughout his journey. Dory has a sunny point of view over everything in life. She eventually becomes Marlin's best friend. Dory's name comes from the common name of several families of marine fish, most of which are in the orderZeiformes, suborder Zeioidei. Voiced by Ellen DeGeneres.

The Tank Gang

After Nemo's capture, he is placed in a marine aquarium in a dental clinic. Its inhabitants meet Nemo and initiate him into their group, christening him with his new name, 'Sharkbait.' They have a ridiculous extensive knowledge of dental procedures and equipment,and they constantly fight about which ones right.

Gill

Gill, a Moorish Idol, is the self-proclaimed leader of the Gang. Like Nemo, he originally lived in the ocean until he was captured and sold as a pet. Also like Nemo, he has a deformed fin, caused by a previous tank escape attempt in which he landed in the dentist's sharp tools. The tools left his right fin and part of his face severely scarred. Gill's face was modeled to resemble his voice actor, complete with deep facial wrinkles. Voiced by Willem Dafoe.

Nigel

Nigel is a Brown pelican who has befriended the Tank Gang. He rescues Marlin and Dory from being eaten by the seagulls (or as he calls them 'rats with wings') and carries both of them in his mouth to take them to Nemo where he crashes through the window and into the office where he flies around frantically before he is pushed out the window. Nigel is also seen crashing into the window at the dental office more than two times in the movie. He is also the only animal character who is not from the water, apart from the seagulls. Nigel is voiced by Geoffrey Rush.

Bloat

Bloat is a porcupinefish, with the tendency to inflate himself when provoked or startled. Voiced by Brad Garrett.

Gurgle

Gurgle is a Royal Gramma who displays germophobic behavior when he discovers Nemo is from the ocean, and when the Gang disables the aquariumfilter as part of a plan to free Nemo. (This character is never referred to by name in the film. The name Gurgle is listed only in the end credits.) Voiced by Austin Pendleton.

Peach

Peach is a starfish who spends most of the time attached to the tank's glass, observing the events taking place on the outside. In this way, she also serves as the Gang's lookout. She spends so much time watching what goes on that she can not only read, but has the dentist's habits memorized down to the smallest detail. When the rest of the Tank Gang members are stating which pet shop they are from, Peach replies that she is from eBay. Voiced by Allison Janney.

Deb (and Flo)

Deb is a Damselfish, the 2nd female member of the Tank Gang. She confuses her reflection on the tank wall as her 'sister' Flo. Deb and Flo are a pun to ebb and flow, the falling and rising, respectively, of the Earth's tides. Voiced by Vicki Lewis.

Jacques

Jacques is a Pacific cleaner shrimp who has an obsessive need to clean continually. He speaks with a French accent, and tends to lapse into French periodically. He is an obvious homage to the famous ocean explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau. Voiced by Joe Ranft.

Bubbles

Bubbles is a yellow tang who behaves wildly in the presence of bubbles. Like Gurgle, Bubbles is never mentioned by name. Voiced by Stephen Root.

econdary Characters

Bruce

Bruce is a great white shark, and is part of a self-help support group with two other sharks to change their image by pledging off eating fish. Bruce encounters Dory and Marlin on their quest, and invites them as part of step five of the group's twelve-step program: 'Bring a Fish Friend.' Bruce momentarily reverts to his primal predatory instincts when he smells Dory's blood after she is hit by the diver's mask she and Marlin were fighting over, forcing the other sharks to try and restrain him; in his frenzied state, his pupils become extremely dilated. Bruce is named for the three mechanical sharks used in the original 'Jaws' movie. Voiced by Barry Humphries.

Anchor

Anchor is a hammerhead shark, and is part of Bruce's support group. His mouth is where a real hammerhead's neck should be, though this may be due to animation difficulties. He hates dolphins and states them as being an exception to the 'fish are friends, not food' rule (a given, since dolphins are mammals, not fish). Voiced by Eric Bana.

Chum

Chum is a hyperactive mako shark with a fish hook embedded in his snout. He is the third member of Bruce's support group. His name is a pun, as the word 'chum' can mean either a friend, or a mixture of fish parts and blood that is used by fishermen to attract fish. Like Anchor, he also hates dolphins. Chum is voiced by Bruce Spence.

Crush

Crush is a sea turtle who speaks with a surfer accent. He is the father of Squirt, and he aids Marlin and Dory after they had gone through the jellyfish swarm. Crush is an important influence on Marlin's character development. Crush is voiced by Andrew Stanton, the director of 'Finding Nemo'. He also starred in his own theme park attraction, Turtle Talk with Crush.

quirt

Squirt is Crush's son. Like Crush, he seems to be relatively relaxed about things, although he maintains a lot of energy. He has a very hard head. He gives instructions to Marlin and Dory on how to exit the East Australian Current, but because he tends to speak with 'surfer' lingo and very quickly, they can't understand what he says. Squirt is voiced by Nicholas Bird.

Minor Characters

In their adventure throughout the film, Marlin and Dory meet many different characters, both friendly and hostile.

Barracuda

The Barracuda appears at the beginning of the movie. After Marlin and Coral discuss future plans of their family, Coral spots the barracuda and goes into a state of shock. As Coral dives to protect her eggs, the barracuda attacks and eats Coral and most of the eggs. One survives, which Marlin named Nemo.

Blenny

Blenny is the small, seemingly terrified, psychedelic fish with really big round eyes that Anchor brings to the support group meeting as his 'fish friend'. After the credits he appears again and eats the Anglerfish whole. [ [http://www.apple.com/games/articles/2003/05/findingnemo/ Apple - Games - Articles - Finding Nemo ] ] .

Anglerfish

After Dory dropped P. Sherman's diving mask, both she and Marlin venture into a deep-sea trench in order to search for it. Marlin and Dory were in complete darkness, only to be entranced by a soft blue light, which turned out to be the lure of a vicious deep-sea anglerfish. Marlin uses its lure to give Dory the light needed to read the writing on the strap of the mask. After the credits roll, there's a scene where Blenny swims in the darkness before a light appears, a few moments later the angler fish appears out of the dark, only to be eaten by Blenny.

Moonfish

Marlin and Dory encounter a school of moonfish. They can arrange themselves to imitate the image of other creatures (including Marlin) or objects (ships, trenches, etc.). They direct Marlin and Dory to the East Australian Current, which would take them to Sydney quickly. The head of the school is voiced by John Ratzenberger. [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0266543/fullcredits#cast Finding Nemo (2003) - Full cast and crew ] ] .

Jellyfish

After ignoring the warning given to them by the school of moonfish, Marlin and Dory encounter a massive bloom of jellyfish. Dory is oblivious to the danger surrounding her; she bounces off the bells of the jellyfish as if they were trampolines. Realizing her playful nature, Marlin decides to make a game out of the jellyfish in order to get her to escape the swarm before it is too late.

Whale

At one point Marlin and Dory are lost, and, despite highly skeptical protests by Marlin, Dory is able to communicate with a blue whale. The whale sucks them into its mouth, and eventually gives Dory instructions on how to exit through its blowhole once they had reached Sydney Harbour.

Gerald

Gerald is the pelican that eats Marlin and Dory, nearly. He is also Nigel's best friend, and has an apparent habit of choking on his food.

eagulls

The seagulls (specifically Pacific gulls, the only black-winged Australian gull) are depicted several times in the film, mostly attempting to obtain food. Their most prominent role is when a flock of seagulls chase Nigel (carrying Marlin and Dory in his mouth), through Sydney harbor. The only word they say throughout the entire film is 'mine' (not 'mate'). The visual commentary in the released DVD states that the seagulls are voiced by Andrew Stanton.

Crabs

Two crabs live by the sewage pipes. One crab, who tries to catch Nemo and later refuses to reveal where he's seen Marlin (until he is shown to the seagulls), is voiced by Australian talk show host Rove McManus.

Ted

Ted is Pearl's father. Like Pearl, he tends to 'ink' when alarmed. He is voiced by Andrew Stanton, the director.

Bob

Bob is Sheldon's father. He is voiced by Andrew Stanton, the director.

Bill

Bill is the father of Tad. Has at least two children (Tad and one unnamed, older child). He is voiced by Joe Ranft.

Royal envoy 3 level 79 walkthrough. Lobsters

The lobsters made a cameo appearance as a few of the various creatures who were told Marlin's story via the turtles. On their way along the sea bottom they see their friend, Bob (another lobster, not to be confused with Sheldon's father, the seahorse) trapped in a lobster pot. The lobsters speak with a Boston accent [Finding Nemo DVD; Director's Commentary] , suggesting they belong to the American lobster ('Homarus americanus') species. They are all voiced by Andrew Stanton.

Coral

Coral was an ocellaris clownfish and was Marlin's wife and Nemo's mother. She was killed in an attempt to save their 400 eggs from a barracuda (also told not to) at the beginning of the film. Coral is voiced by Elizabeth Perkins. Coral's name originates from that of the colonial marine invertebrates.

Humans

Philip Sherman

Philip Sherman is a kindly Australian dentist who captured Nemo in a diving expedition, when he found Nemo so far from the reef. He captured Nemo because he believed Nemo was 'struggling for life' due to his 'Lucky fin'. He is the owner of the diving mask that fell overboard. Its strap bore the address of his office, which Dory was able to read and helped Marlin locate Nemo. Philip has a niece named Darla. He makes a cameo in the Pixar shortBoundin as the arm. Philip Sherman's name, 'P. Sherman', as it is spelled on the strap of his diver's mask, is a subtle Filipino in-joke of the Filipino-American accent, due to the substantial number of Pixar employees of Filipino descent. [ [http://www.pinoytechblog.com/archives/subtle-pinoy-humor-insertions-in-pixar-films Subtle Pinoy Humor Insertions in Pixar Films Pinoy Tech Blog - The Philippines' Premier Technology Blog ] ] The Tagalog language in the Philippines lacks the 'f' sound, so foreign words with that sound are approximated with the 'p' sound. This means that 'P. Sherman' is a pun of 'fisherman'.

Philip Sherman is voiced by Bill Hunter.

Darla Sherman

Darla Sherman is Philip Sherman's niece, and is supposed to receive Nemo as a birthday present. While it says that Darla is turning eight, she behaves strangely childishly, and has a rather noticable brace. The Tank Gang revealed her carelessness towards aquarium fish, though unintentional (she killed her previous birthday present goldfish, Chuckles, two minutes after receiving it by shaking the plastic bag in which Chuckles swam). As a result, Gill devises a plan to get Nemo back to the ocean. Darla is voiced by LuLu Ebeling. Every time she turns her head to look at the camera or when she enters a scene, the murder tune to Psycho plays.

Barbara

Barbara is the female receptionist at the Dental Surgery.

Nemo's Class

Mr. Ray

Mr. Ray is an eagle ray and Nemo's science teacher. Mr. Ray's teaching style involves impromptu oceangraphy songs and lessons to broaden the experience of the ocean through the eyes of a scientist. His class rides atop Mr. Ray as if an underwater magic carpet. Mr. Ray is voiced by Bob Peterson.

When Mr. Ray sings his 'Let's Name the Species' song, he does not name species. He recites the names of much higher ranks of biological scientific classification. Porifera, Coelenterata, Ctenophora, Bryozoa, Arthropoda, Echinodermata, and Chordata are all animalphyla. Hydrozoa, Scyphozoa, and Anthozoa are classes in the phylum Cnidaria. Coelenterata is an obsolete yet common term encompassing two animal phyla: Ctenophora (comb jellies) and Cnidaria (coral animals, true jellies, sea anemones, sea pens, and their allies). Finally, Gastropoda (snails and slugs) is a class in the phylum Mollusca. [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0266543/goofs Finding Nemo (2003) - Goofs ] ]

Mr. Ray tells a student named Jimmy to keep his supraesophageal ganglion to himself. This is a part of an insect's central nervous system. It is also part of the crustacean (shellfish) central nervous system.

Disney was sued in 2006 by New Jersey-based artist mr. RAY (www.mrray.com) for using his trademarked name.

heldon

Sheldon is a young Seahorse who says he is H₂O intolerant, i.e allergic to water. (This is somewhat ironic since he lives in the ocean and therefore has to live with water). Sheldon is voiced by Erik Per Sullivan.

Tad

Tad is a Long-nosed Butterflyfish [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forcipiger_flavissimus] with an obnoxious disposition, though he doesn't seem to know what that means. Tad is voiced by Jordy Ranft.

Pearl

Pearl is a young, bubblegum pink Female Flapjack Octopus who has one tentacle shorter than all her other tentacles. She bunks off school with Nemo and goes to the edge of the reef, where Nemo gets captured. When one of her friends (Tad) yells, 'Saved your life!' she gets scared and shoots ink and whines 'Ohh, you guys made me ink.

Pearl is voiced by Erica Beck.

Cathy

A blue buck-toothed fish who points out that Nemo is swimming out to sea to touch the boat (or 'butt', as they mispronounced)'Oh my gosh! Nemo's swimming out to sea!'

References