Flying Fish

Flying Fish

Flying Fish
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 3 to 6
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	6.58

Vocabulary

challenging words:

forceful, additional, airborne, frequently, seabirds, species, strategy, survival, thrust, lower, flight, speedy, upper, below, design, unique

Print Flying Fish
edHelper.com subscriber options:

	Print Flying Fish (font options, pick words for additional puzzles, and more)
	Quickly print reading comprehension
	Print a proofreading activity

Feedback on Flying Fish

Leave your feedback on Flying Fish (use this link if you found an error in the story)

Flying Fish

¹     Out in the open sea live forceful predators like dolphins, sharks, tuna, and marlins. To get away un-scratched from these speedy hunters' pursuit is not an easy task. Yet, flying fish manage to come up with a unique escape tactic that no other fish can imitate. Do you know what survival trick flying fish use? That's right, they "fly!"

²     Well, strictly speaking, flying fish cannot fly. They glide.

³     Depending on the type of modifications made to their bodies, flying fish can have either two or four "wings." Two-winged flying fish (such as Atlantic flying fish [scientific name: Cypselurus melanurus]) have a pair of long pectoral fins that are reminiscent of birds' wings. Their four-winged cousins (such as great flying fish [also known as California flying fish, scientific name: Cypselurus californicus]) go one step further. They adopt the same design not only for their two pectoral fins, but also for their two pelvic fins. Regardless of how many "wings" they have, all flying fish -- about 50 species in the Exocoetidae family -- have asymmetrical caudal fins or tails. That is, the upper lobe of their tails is noticeably shorter and smaller than the lower one.

Paragraphs 4 to 6:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable

Copyright © 2008 edHelper