The Tale of the Barnacle and the Whale

What is a barnacle?

• a crustacean that can be found attached to rocks, ships, or docks

• a kind of rock attached to a dock or the bottom of a ship

• a large mammal similar to a whale

The author describes two reasons why barnacles attach themselves to whales. What is one reason why they do this?

• to help them become stronger than other barnacles

• to absorb nutrients from the whale's skin

• to stay safe from predators

The article says, "As you can see, barnacles get a pretty good deal by living on whales." What evidence from the text best supports this statement?

• “One kind of crustacean called a barnacle can be found with its shell attached to rocks, the bottom of ships, and docks.”

• “Once they find a spot on the whale that they like, they dig into the skin of the whales to stay in place.”

• “The whales they hitchhike on eat plenty of plankton. Barnacles also like to eat these tiny organisms.”

Where might a barnacle be safest from predators?

• attached to a rock

• attached to a dock

• attached to a whale

What is the main idea of this text?

• Barnacles are crustaceans, like crabs, lobsters and shrimp, and they live in the ocean.

• Barnacles attach themselves to whales to find food and protection, but whales don’t get much help from barnacles.

Tell me one thing you learned

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