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Sea Urchins Animal Themes

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Sea Urchins
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Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 5 to 6
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	6.12

Vocabulary

challenging words:

fluid-filled, rolled-up, tooth-like, vascular, inward, ranks, carbonate, needle-sharp, phylum, spiny, internal, fused, grazers, separate, among, natural

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Sea Urchins

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¹     Sea urchins are like rolled-up hedgehogs. They have pointy spines. The spines project out of their globe-shaped bodies. The name "urchin" is an old name for the round, spiny hedgehog. Their needle-sharp spines are sea urchins' best line of defense. The spines are poisonous in some species.
 
²     Hiding among the spines are five paired rows of tube feet (often tipped with suckers). Sea urchins control them through an internal water vascular system. By adjusting the amount of water inside, sea urchins can expand or contract their fluid-filled feet to move about, gather food, or keep a good grasp on rocks.
 
³     Beneath their menacing spines, sea urchins' bodies are covered with a hard skeleton. It is also called a test, and it is made of calcium carbonate. Upon a closer look, we can see that the test is made up of ten separate plates that have fused together.

Paragraphs 4 to 6:
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Animal Themes

Animal Themes

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Invertebrates

Invertebrates

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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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