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Fish
Fish are the most species-rich group of animals with a backbone. Find out how fish breathe under water, how fins and the swim bladder help them move up and down, how they sense the water around them, and how physics explains floating at different depths. Three ages, each with a text, an experiment, a game, a quiz, a printable worksheet and a teacher sheet.
Ages 6–7Fins, gills and scalesHow does a fish breathe under water? Meet the fins, the tail, the gills and the scales, and find out why a dolphin is not a fish.Ages 10–11How fish live in waterThe three groups of fish, how gills take oxygen out of water, how the swim bladder helps a fish float, and how fish sense movement. Then build a diver that rises and sinks like a fish.Ages 15–16Gas exchange, buoyancy and depthHow gills extract scarce dissolved oxygen, how the swim bladder controls buoyancy, and how pressure and Boyle's law (pV = constant) affect a gas-filled organ as a fish changes depth.