Ocean Sunfish

Ocean Sunfish

Ocean Sunfish
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 4 to 7
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	7.43

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		dorsal, fuse, individually, mild-tempered, extremely, despite, occasionally, various, behavior, hence, species, cartilaginous, temperate, substance, thus, cartilage
	content words:		Southern Ocean

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Spanish: El Pez Luna

Ocean Sunfish

¹     Ocean sunfish are gentle, slow-moving giants residing in tropical or temperate oceans all over the world. There are four different species of ocean sunfish -- common sunfish, Southern Ocean sunfish, slender sunfish, and sharptail sunfish. Aside from calling them ocean sunfish, we also nickname them moonfish and headfish. Occasionally, you may hear people referring to ocean sunfish as mola. Mola is abbreviated from "Mola mola" and Mola mola is really the scientific name for common sunfish.

²     Now, if all these various ways of addressing ocean sunfish are not confusing enough, consider this. There are sunfish in oceans and there are sunfish in rivers and lakes. Despite the fact that both have "sunfish" in their respective names, ocean sunfish and freshwater sunfish are not related at all! In fact, ocean sunfish share many similarities with puffer fish, and the two are relatives.

³     Ocean sunfish have round, flattened bodies in white or dark gray. Their dorsal and anal fins are extremely long. When ocean sunfish swim, they wave their dorsal and anal fins from side to side in unison. At times, ocean sunfish prefer not to swim and let the current carry them around. Every now and then, ocean sunfish like to float on one side near the ocean surface. Scientists speculate that ocean sunfish carry out this strange behavior to warm up their bodies. Interestingly, like sharks, ocean sunfish expose part of their dorsal fins as they swim. Hence, looking from afar, beach goers cannot really tell if they are staring at hungry sharks or mild-tempered ocean sunfish! Well, just to be careful, getting out of the water is always a good idea!

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