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Anglerfish Animal Themes

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Anglerfish
Print Anglerfish Reading Comprehension with Sixth Grade Work

Print Anglerfish Reading Comprehension


Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 6 to 8
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	6.72

Vocabulary

challenging words:

anglerfish, seabed, heavyset, ingenious, bizarre-looking, blackdevil, light-producing, fiction, fuses, traditional, fate, parasitic, drastic, pectoral, literally, creative

Other Languages
     Spanish: El Pejesapo

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Anglerfish

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¹     Anglerfish may be the most creative fish on Earth! Instead of looking for prey actively, anglerfish have a brilliant hunting technique. Their bodies blend in well with the surroundings. They wait, and then they wiggle their "bait." The foremost spine of their dorsal fin actually looks like a baited fishing rod! The anglerfish fools other fishes into believing that they have just caught a glimpse of a worm. As an unsuspecting victim prepares to get a good bite of the worm, it is in for a big surprise! To its horror, the worm it sees is not a worm at all! On the contrary, it is a trap set up by the anglerfish. Of course, by now, it is too late for the poor fish to turn around and speed away. Giving way to its unlucky fate, the fish becomes the fallen prey of anglerfish.
 
²     Does the anglerfish's way of getting food remind you of any human activity? When we hold onto a fishing pole and lower a baited hook into the water, we are trying to lure a fish to come and eat the bait. With patience and luck, we can walk away with a pail full of fish. The ingenious method of food gathering anglerfish use is just like an angler's approach to catching fish. That's how anglerfish got their name.
 
³     There are about two hundred different species of anglerfish in the world. Aside from their famous fishing tools, anglerfish have large heads, huge mouths, and heavyset bodies. They can grow up to three feet long. Because anglerfish's stomachs can extend, they can swallow prey about the same size as or even two times larger than themselves! Some anglerfish species live at the bottom of the shallow sea, but others prefer to swim in the deep ocean.

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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Animals

Amphibians         Birds         Deserts         Fish         Freshwater         Grasslands         Insects

Invertebrates         Mammals         Oceans         Polar Regions         Rain Forest         Reptiles

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