Worksheets and No Prep Teaching Resources Reading Comprehension Worksheets Animal Themes Fish Oceans

Ocean Sunfish Animal Themes

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Ocean Sunfish
Print Ocean Sunfish Reading Comprehension with Sixth Grade Work

Print Ocean Sunfish Reading Comprehension


Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 6 to 8
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	6.89

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		mola, anal, afar, headfish, moonfish, puffer, sharptail, spine-covered, speculate, sunfish, orcas, provides, mild-tempered, various, merely, thus
	content words:		Southern Ocean

Other Languages
     Spanish: El Pez Luna

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Ocean Sunfish

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¹     Ocean sunfish are gentle, slow-moving giants. They live 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 comes from "Mola mola," the scientific name for ocean sunfish.
 
²     Now, if all these various names of 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 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!

Paragraphs 4 to 7:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable

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Animal Themes

Animal Themes

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Fish

Fish

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Oceans

Oceans

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Animals

Amphibians         Birds         Deserts         Fish         Freshwater         Grasslands         Insects

Invertebrates         Mammals         Oceans         Polar Regions         Rain Forest         Reptiles

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