Summary - Passage 2

Objective Summary

"Fish Out of Water"

Let's read the passage!

Think: what is the point of the article? What does the author want you to know? As you read, try to find the 5Ws+H.

Multiple Choice

1. People who read this passage will learn:

• how long mudskippers live.

• how mudskippers move.

• when mudskippers were first discovered.

• which creatures prey on mudskippers.

Multiple Choice

2. Which paragraph can you find this information?

• Paragraph 1

• Paragraph 2

• Paragraph 3

• Paragraph 4

Multiple Choice

3. Which sentence best summarizes paragraph 3?

Even though they can breathe air, mudskippers can’t live totally out of the water. They still have to keep their skin damp. Sometimes these fish will wallow around in wet mud when they can’t totally submerge. Underwater, mudskippers breathe through their gills just like other fish.

• Mudskippers are fish that live in the mud found in forests.

• Mudskippers can live in water or moist places.

• Mudskippers have unique bodies and extra strong fins.

• Mudskippers are different from other aquarium fish.

  Mudskippers are different from other aquarium fish.

Multiple Choice

4. Which sentence is the best summary of the ideas in the passage?

• Mudskippers are a kind of fish that can live out of water for a few minutes, so they are fun to keep as pets.

• Mudskippers are a kind of goby; these fish can live in the mud because their gills work like reverse scuba gear.

• In the mangrove forests of Asia and Africa, unique fish called mudskippers can hop through the mud and climb trees.

• Mudskippers, unique fish that can live partially out of water, can breathe air, store water in their gills, and hop and climb with their fins.

Multiple Choice

5. Which of the following is the best summary paragraph of the passage?

• A good pet to have is a mudskipper. It can live in an aquarium and feed itself. It must be properly

  taken care of and have plenty of salty water and mud.

• A type of goby is a mudskipper. They live in mud in the forests of Asia and Africa. They have special sacs that act like reverse scuba gear and enable them to live out of water.

• A mudskipper can travel on land using its strong body in many ways. The muscles in their fins help

  them to hop along mud or water. They can move themselves across twenty inches of land faster than they can swim.

• A mudskipper is a kind of fish that can climb, skip, and swim. Mudskippers have muscular bodies to

  travel on land and use their fins to climb trees. These fish can be pets but must have a special

  habitat of salt water and mud.

Multiple Choice

6. The information in this passage would be most useful for a paper on which topic?

• the ocean and its inhabitants

• life in a mangrove forest

• how gills work

• animals that feed underwater

Multiple Choice

7. Why would someone most likely read this passage?

• to enjoy a story about a mudskipper

• to learn how to best preserve the mudskipper

• to learn about the environment of a mudskipper

• to gain information about the mudskipper

Multiple Choice

8. Which is the best summary of paragraph 4?

• Mudskippers travel on land. They move themselves forward 20 inches at a time! Mudskippers can swim and can also move out of the water.

• Mudskippers can travel on land by using their muscular bodies to propel them in a variety of ways. They use their strong front fins like crutches, for example, to hop along mud flats. Mudskippers actually move faster out of the water than they move by swimming.

• Mudskippers actually move faster out of the water than when swimming in it. They use their bodies to catapult themselves forward 20 inches at a time!

• They use their strong front fins like crutches to hop along a water surface. They can catapult

  themselves forward 20 inches at a time! They are the body builders of the fish world!