Is this the most badass clownfish ever: Video

There’s a saying that it’s not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog. This truism is played out in nature all the time, but Associate Professor Suzanne Mills has captured an epic underwater attack in Moorea from a little clownish on a much larger shark that's brought Nemo and his entire clan into disrepute.

Proving that clownfish are total badasses, the underwater footage shows a territorial female mother 'Nemo' swimming happily around her nest amid some vibrant coral outcrops. A black tip reef sharks cruises into view, looking ominous but minding its own business, when the clownish does a 360, erects its fins in a display of aggression, and prepares to strike.

As the shark swims nonchalantly by, the clownfish launches forth and snaps at the lazily beating tail of the shark, sinking its teeth sufficiently deep to startle the predator, in what was an unprovoked king hit from behind. Thuglife!

The shark flinches in surprise, beats its tail a couple of extra paces, no doubt wondering what’s attacked it and probably for the first time in its otherwise blissful existence in Tahiti's tropic waters, before splitting.

A chuffed female clownfish then returns to its coral home and ‘nest’ as the victor, as though its won a fight with a feared foe many times its size, before returning to the fighting ring all puffed up. But the shark has long gone.

According to some underwater colleagues and divers tweeting back, clownfish have been seen attacking turtle’s eyes, while others reported having been attacked by gobies smaller than their little finger. Of course, a piranha isn't a big fish. All good fun, but for the hapless shark.

Professor Suzanne Mills works at the Centre Island Research and Environmental Observatory in Moorea in conservation and coral reef research at CRIOBE.

It's great to see a little fish having a go. Here's the video to lighten up your day of one badass clownfish and a very protective mum.