Finding Nemos Trivia Quiz

Answer: Common clownfish

The common clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris) is generally found in eastern areas of the Indian Ocean and western areas of the Pacific Ocean. They are predominantly orange and white (as shown in the picture clue) and have a symbiotic lifestyle, relying on sea anemones for protection and shelter. Individual sea anemones host a large group of clownfish that have a distinct social structure featuring a dominant (and monogamous) male and female. Interestingly, all clownfish start out life as males, with the largest and most dominant fish later becoming female. Therefore Disney could never have made a movie about Marlin the clownfish's adventures while searching for his lost daughter.

'Finding Nemo' was produced jointly by Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios. In 2004, at the 76th Academy Awards, it won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature and was nominated in a further three categories, including Best Original Screenplay. Marlin's forgetful friend, Dory, was a Pacific regal blue tang; Gill, the leader of the tank fish, was a Moorish idol; and a school of moonfish gave Marlin and Dory directions to Sydney, Australia.

Answer: Amsterdam

Science Center Nemo was originally founded in 1923 as the Museum of Labour; it went through several name changes (Dutch Institute of Labour and Technology in 1954, newMetropolis in 1997) before becoming Science Center Nemo in 2000. In 1997 the organisation moved to a purpose built home - a giant ship shaped, copper-green coloured building - designed by the architect Renzo Piano, who was also responsible for Paris's Pompidou Centre.

Amsterdam is the capital city of the Netherlands despite the fact that the seat of government is actually in The Hague. The majority of the city's famous canal network was built in the 17th century in an early example of organised urban planning. Alongside the canals, cycling is a key method of transport and is extremely popular - research conducted in 2013 suggested that the number of bicycles in Amsterdam was roughly equal to the size of the population!

Venice (Italy), Bruges (Belgium) and Oxford (England) all share some characteristics with Amsterdam - Venice and Bruges are both known for their canals while Oxford is famously full of bicycles. The picture clue shows one of Amsterdam's many canals, lined by many of the city's ubiquitous bicycles.

Answer: Bleak House

Charles Dickens' 'Bleak House' was first published in serial form between 1852 and 1853. It focuses on the failings of the British legal system in the mid-19th century, particularly the slow and laborious processes of the Court of Chancery (a court of equity where verdicts and orders were made by the judge alone).

The heroine of the novel was a young woman named Esther Summerson who believed she was an orphan. However, it turned out that her guardian was in fact her aunt, that her mother was actually another major character of the novel, and that her father was a mysterious clerk named 'Nemo'. As you can no doubt tell, 'Bleak House' is extremely complex; like many of Dickens' novels it not only follows the interconnected lives of the major characters, but also a number of intricate sub-plots involving minor characters such as Nemo.

The picture clue shows a ruined or 'bleak' house. The novel, 'Hard Times' and the Christmas story 'The Chimes' are both other works by Dickens. 'The Haunted House' was a periodical story written by Dickens and a number of other well-known authors of the time, such as Elizabeth Gaskell and Wilkie Collins.

Answer: Latin

You'd be hard pressed to find anyone using the word 'nemo' for 'no one', 'no man' or 'nobody' in general conversation in the 21st century, given that Latin is now mainly restricted to classical education and use by the clergy. The only country in the world where Latin remains an official language is Vatican City, the home of the Roman Catholic Church.

The Latin roots of the word probably explain why the name 'Nemo' has been given to mysterious fictional characters - not just the famous Captain Nemo created by Jules Verne, but others such as Nemo Nobody from the film 'Mr Nobody' or the evil Judge Nemo from the 'Disgaea 4' video game.

The picture clue shows a poster written in Latin. Sanskrit is one of the official regional languages of India and the liturgical language of Hinduism. Pali is the liturgical language of Theravada Buddhism and Etruscan was the language of ancient Etruria that was superseded by Latin.

Answer: Cork

Gaelic football and hurling are two traditional Irish sports that come under the remit of the Gaelic Athletic Association. They are primarily played in Ireland, although clubs do exist in other parts of the world. Gaelic football has 15 players on a team who pass a football between them (by kicking, hand-passing, 'soloing' or bouncing it) and attempt to get it into (or over) the opponents' goal. Hurling also involves a team of 15 but a large stick called a 'hurley' is used to hit the ball into the other team's goal.

The city of Cork sits on the River Lee in south-west Ireland, within the province of Munster. It gives its name to the surrounding County Cork and is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland. It was originally founded in the 6th century and was granted city status as the result of a charter from Prince John (later to become King John of England) in 1185. Nemo Rangers is just one of a number of Gaelic sports clubs that call Cork home.

Limerick, Galway and Waterford are also all cities in the Republic of Ireland. Limerick and Galway are on the west coast of Ireland; Waterford is located in the south-east of the country. The picture clue shows a champagne cork - the city of Cork itself is however not particularly famous for viniculture.

Answer: German Shepherd

German Shepherds (like the one depicted in the picture clue), also known as Alsatians, are commonly used by police and armed forces around the world because of their intelligence, strength and obedience, although they were originally bred for herding sheep (not a particularly surprising fact given their name).

Nemo A534 - the A534 part being his serial number - was a sentry dog working at the Tan Son Nhut US air base in 1966, during the Vietnam war. When he and his handler were both shot during an enemy attack on the base, Nemo's actions in protecting his handler allowed time for back-up to be called in and for the pair of them to be rescued. Nemo suffered severe facial injuries, including the loss of an eye, and was flown back to the US for treatment. He became a local hero at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas where he was given his own kennel and lived out the rest of his life working as a recruitment dog. If you want to 'find' this Nemo then his memorial stone still stands at the base today.

Answer: An asteroid

1640 Nemo has an orbital period of around 1265 days and is a Mars-crossing asteroid, which means that its orbit around the sun crosses that of the planet Mars. It was discovered in 1951 by the Belgian astronomer Sylvain Arend - who was also responsible for the discovery of 50 other asteroids.

The term 'asteroid' is generally applied to small orbiting objects of the inner solar system - the area including the four terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars) and the asteroid belt. A Dwarf planet is a planet-sized object whose shape is determined by its own gravity but does not have an orbital zone free from other similarly sized objects. Unlike asteroids, comets have an extended atmosphere often characterised by a distinctive tail. A meteor occurs when a small body, such as a meteoroid, enter the Earth's atmosphere.

The picture clue is a diagram of an asteroid, although this one has the less snappy name of '2012 DA14'.

Answer: Russia

Nemo Peak is located on the small, uninhabited Onekotan Island which is part of the wider Kuril Islands group. The Kuril Islands form a long thin archipelago that stretches between north-east Japan and the Russian Kamchatka Peninsula. The islands belong to Russia (although some of the southern islands are the subject of territorial disputes between Russia and Japan) and are noted for their seismic activity - there are around 100 volcanoes dotted across the 56 islands.

If you are hunting for the volcano named Nemo Peak, make sure you don't accidentally end up in the wrong place! There is another Nemo Peak that can be found on Wiencke Island in Antarctica, where you're bound to get freezing cold and - as it is not a volcano - there'll be no chance of it warming you up.

The picture clue shows a set of traditional matryoshka dolls, also known as Russian nesting dolls.

Answer: Pacific

A 'pole of inaccessibility' is a geographical construct relating to the point in a particular area that is most difficult to reach. In the case of the oceanic pole of inaccessibility, the term is used to represent the point in the world's oceans where you would be furthest away from land in any direction - regardless of how small or insignificant the patch of land may be.

Point Nemo is in the South Pacific Ocean. The nearest land is Moto Nui (a small island south of Easter Island) to the north-east, Maher Island (off the coast of Antarctica) to the south and Ducie Island (near Pitcairn Island) to the north. However, in this case 'nearest' means approximately 2,700 km (1,700 miles) away!

The picture clue shows a satellite image of the eastern Pacific Ocean taken by a US weather satellite.

Answer: The Mysterious Island

In 'The Mysterious Island' (1874) a group of five escaped Union prisoners from the American Civil War crash land their balloon on an apparently deserted island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. They quickly adapt to life as castaways and discover that the island (that they've named Lincoln Island) harbours a mysterious secret. It turns out that it is the home base of the Nautilus submarine and its enigmatic commander, Captain Nemo - who first appeared in Verne's celebrated work 'Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea' (1870).

Captain Nemo can also be found in Jules Verne's 1882 stage play 'Journey Through the Impossible' along with a number of Verne's other heroic explorer characters: Otto Lidenbrock ('Journey to the Centre of the Earth'), Michel Ardan ('From the Earth to the Moon'), and Captain Hatteras ('The Adventures of Captain Hatteras').

The picture clue shows a map of the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, one of which is also named Lincoln Island.