Title
Question Set: What is a Fish?
NGSS Science and Engineering Practices
NGSS Crosscutting Concepts
NGSS Disciplinary Core Ideas
Table of Contents
- How are the two scientific definitions of fishes by Nelson and Berra similar? How are they different?
- Why do you think that Nelson’s definition is considered more broad than Berra’s?
- What does poikilothermic mean? Why is this term less misleading than the term cold-blooded? Refer to Table 4.2 for definitions of words.
- Is a seahorse a fish? How does it fit your definition of a fish? How does it not? What if you use one of the scientific definitions?
- There are many aquatic animals that are called fish, like jellyfish and starfish, which are not fish. Why are these animals not considered to be fish?
- Practice using the term fish and the term fishes. For each of the following cases, indicate which term is correct (fish or fishes):
- A single skipjack tuna is a __________.
- A school of skipjack tuna is a school of __________.
- A school of eels, groupers, and wrasses is a school of __________.
- Why do you think that over half of the species of vertebrates are fishes?
- Why do you think that there are many new species of fishes still being discovered?
