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Invertebrates Animal Themes

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Invertebrates
Print Invertebrates Reading Comprehension with Sixth Grade Work

Print Invertebrates Reading Comprehension


Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 6 to 8
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	7.81

Vocabulary

challenging words:

vascular, cnidarians, annelid, harpoon-like, myriapods, nematodes, ribbon-like, threadworms, woodlice, covering, unit, highly, trigger, mantle, cylindrical, exoskeletons

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Invertebrates

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¹     There are over two million known animal species on Earth. About 98% of them are invertebrates. Invertebrates are animals that don't have backbones. They live in a variety of environments. They live in hot and unbearable deserts. They live in frigid and equally unbearable polar regions. They also come in a wide range of shapes and colors. To better understand invertebrates, scientists group them into eight major types. Here are the categories and a fact or two about each type.
 
²     Arthropods are invertebrates with jointed legs. They have hard outer shells (exoskeletons) and segmented bodies. Arthropods are the largest invertebrate group. About 75% of all animal species are arthropods. Insects (such as butterflies, fleas, and beetles), myriapods (such as centipedes and millipedes), crustaceans (such as crabs, pill woodlice, and lobsters), arachnids (such as spiders, scorpions, and ticks), and horseshoe crabs are all examples of arthropods.
 
³     Sponges are the simplest of all animals. Sponges have no heads and no nerves. Most sponges live in oceans, but some live in freshwater. Their movements are very difficult to detect. They always attach to rocks or the sea floor. For these reasons, sponges were once thought to be aquatic plants! Sponges feed through a filter system. Thousands of pores covering the outside of a sponge pump water into the sponge's body. Collar cells lining the inside of the sponge sort out plankton or other microorganisms from the water. Once food particles are trapped and digested by collar cells, sponges expel the water through an opening at the top of the sponge.

Paragraphs 4 to 9:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable

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Animal Themes

Animal Themes

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Invertebrates

Invertebrates

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Animals

Amphibians         Birds         Deserts         Fish         Freshwater         Grasslands         Insects

Invertebrates         Mammals         Oceans         Polar Regions         Rain Forest         Reptiles

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