Sharks

Sharks

Sharks
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 4 to 6
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	5.51

Vocabulary

challenging words:

lateral, sandpaper, sensory, lays, eyesight, lifetime, nutrition, possibly, species, yolk, equally, pores, triangular, odd-looking, attack, rough

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Spanish: Los Tiburones

Sharks

¹     Sharks are possibly the fish that we fear the most when we swim in the ocean! Undoubtedly, the great white shark is the villain that gives all sharks a bad name. The great white shark's powerful jaws and sharp teeth have made it almost unbeatable during an attack! While there are over 400 different species of sharks in the world, only 30 types of them have attacked or killed humans. Most sharks live in the sea, but scientists have also discovered some species of sharks living in rivers.

²     Most sharks, such as great white sharks and tiger sharks, are long and torpedo-shaped. Their streamlined bodies allow them to make sharp turns while they swim at high speeds. However, there are some odd-looking sharks like the great hammerhead shark, the saw shark, and the angel shark. As the name suggests, the head of a great hammerhead shark looks like a hammer with eyes at both sides of its wide, flat head. The saw shark has a long snout with pointed teeth on both edges. The angel shark has a flat body that makes it look more like a ray than a shark.

³     A shark's skin is covered with hard, tooth-like scales called dermal denticles. These denticles are neatly arranged to point toward a shark's tail in order to reduce friction as water flows around a shark's body. A shark's skin feels smooth if we stroke it from head to tail but as rough as sandpaper if we rub it from tail to head. Interestingly, as a shark grows, its denticles do not get larger. Instead, a shark grows more denticles to cover the growing body surface.

Paragraphs 4 to 6:
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