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Electric Eels Animal Themes

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Electric Eels
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 4 to 7
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	8.45

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		conger, disc-shaped, knifefish, navigate, repeated, shocks, volts, discharge, electric, slow-moving, continuous, capacity, cylindrical, dorsal, lifetime, dwelling
	content words:		South America

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Other Languages
     Spanish: Las Anguilas Eléctricas

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Electric Eels

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¹     Electric eels, measuring up to nine feet long and dwelling in slow-moving rivers of South America, bear a name that is destined to cause confusion. That is because electric eels are not really eels! Instead, they are close relatives of knifefish.
 
²     So, why are electric eels not true eels, given that both animals have long, cylindrical bodies and continuous fins running along their undersides? Here are some of the reasons:
 
³     

• True eels (such as conger eels and moray eels) have dorsal fins on their backs, whereas electric eels do not.
• True eels spend part or all of their life in oceans, whereas electric eels are lifetime members of the freshwater biome.
• True eels have teeth, whereas electric eels do not.

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

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Animal Themes

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