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An Aquarium from the Age of Fishes Dinosaurs

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An Aquarium from the Age of Fishes
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Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	high interest, readability grades 3 to 5
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	4.17

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		crinoid, crinoids, formidable, lungfish, osteostracans, placoderm, placoderms, plate-sized, scorpion, shark-like, translucent, triangular, trilobite, tuft, species, gills
	content words:		Prehistoric Pet Store

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An Aquarium from the Age of Fishes By Colleen Messina

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¹     Many strange fish lived in the Devonian period. It was called the Age of Fishes, and it started about 416 million years ago and ended about 359 million years ago. If you put in an ancient aquarium, what would go in a Devonian aquarium?
 
²     First of all, you would need a very big tank. Most fish from this period were huge. You could put some white sand in the bottom of the tank. Then, you would want to fill it with warm, clear salt water. You could add pink coral and rugged rocks.
 
³     Then, you could go to a prehistoric pet store to stock your tank. If you can't find one near your house, you might need to use your imagination! Be sure to bring a large wagon so you can bring your new pets home. It might be nice to add graceful crinoids. A crinoid looked like a plant, but it really was an animal. It had a large stalk with a tuft of waving arms on top. It is also called a sea lily. To finish things off for your tank, you could add snails. Bright yellow sponges and translucent jellyfish floating around would add some lively touches. And, of course, you'll need some fish.
 
⁴     What would you shop for first? Well, you would want at least one placoderm. It would give you something to talk about with your friends. Placoderms looked fierce! They even wore armor. Placoderms' armor consisted of hard shields on their heads and trunks. This armor had a hinge. When placoderms opened their mouths, the hinge let them lift their heads. It is hard to imagine a stranger thing than armor on a fish, but placoderms had it.
 
⁵     Placoderms also had strong jaws. You wouldn't want to get too close to their mouths because some of them had real teeth. The others had huge, flat blades in their mouths. They could slice other fish right in half. Because of the armor, teeth, and mouth blades, placoderms were formidable foes in the ancient seas.

Paragraphs 6 to 11:
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