What a fun way to reinforce content area vocabulary! This activity will have students actively thinking about and discussing the world of fish. 30 game boards are included to allow for either small group or whole class participation. Print out a few for use as a center, or enough for the whole class.

To prepare: Print out the boards and cards. Cut apart the cards on the solid lines. Fold the top of each card over to conceal the answer if a small group of students is playing without a separate caller. Photocopy the game boards, or place them in an erasable plastic sleeve. Store the folded cards by banding with a rubber band to preserve the fold that conceals the answer.

To play: Make sure all the cards are folded over to hide the answers. Mix up the cards into a face down pile. Take the top card and read the definition. If students are playing independently, remind them not to lift up the flap. Students can take turns doing this if playing without a dedicated caller. Students then look on their board for a term which fits the description. 30 vocabulary words are used, but each card has only 25 of them. Remind students that they may not have the word for every definition. To check student work, provide the answer after all players have checked their cards and either marked a space or determined they do not have a word matching the definition. Students can self correct - if a word is wrong they should color in that space as unplayable for the rest of the game (or if you prefer, just erase the mark). When students complete a row, column or diagonal, they win.* *Games requiring a straight line of 5 to win can be played quite quickly. Add some variety (and increase the number of words needed to win) by using one of these variations. When playing one of these variations, do not have students mark incorrect answers as unplayable—wrong answers should just be erased.

(or horizontal rows) (or + shape) (or vertical lines)

Or try any combination of one row and one column, any 2 rows or any 2 columns.

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milt / spawn anal fin migrate smoltification sperm

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caudal overfishing hatchery egg scales fin adipose fin anal fin

a soft, fleshy fin found on some fish, such as salmon, which is a single fin located beneath on the back between the dorsal the tail, which provides fin and the caudal fin stability while swimming

anadromous fish aquaculture

a fish born in fresh water, that spends most of its life in saltwater and returns to freshwater to spawn the farming of freshwater and salt- (salmon, striped bass, sturgeon) water organisms for consumption

bony fish brackish water

fish that have a skeleton made primarily of bones - includes all fish except for sharks, rays, skates, water that has more salt than fresh hagfish and lampreys water, but less than seawater bycatch cartilage (incidental catch)

a translucent, elastic connective any fish or marine animals that tissue that supports the skeleton; are unintentionally caught while shark skeletons are completely fishing for other species made of this

catadromous fish caudal fin

a fish that lives in fresh water and enters salt water the tail fin – moves back and to spawn (such as eels) forth to propel fish through water

dorsal fin ectotherm

the single large fin located coldblooded - an animal along the back of a bony fish - whose body temperature provides balance depends on its surroundings egg estuary

the part of a body of water where the freshwater of a river or stream enters into the salt the female reproductive cell water of an ocean

fins freshwater

moveable parts that stick out and help a fish move, water that contains little, if any, steer and balance salt; of or found in saltwater

hatchery gills

an enclosed environment body structures that act like where fish are cultivated, bred, filters to move oxygen from the then released into their natural water into the body of a fish or environment other aquatic creature mating season migrate

to pass periodically from one the period of time when males & region or climate to another females pair to produce offspring for feeding or breeding

milt / sperm nares

paired nostrils in fish which are the male reproductive cell used to detect odors in water

overfishing pectoral fins

a pair of fins on either side just when fish are removed behind a fish's head; allow fish to from a habitat faster than speed up, slow down, stop and they can reproduce quickly change direction pelvic (ventral) fins saltwater

a pair of fins on either side and towards the rear of a fish; allow the water containing a large amount fish to move up and down in water of salt; of or found in salt water

scales smoltification

the series of physiological thin, flat, overlapping pieces changes that prepare some young of hard skin that cover the fish (like salmon) to adapt from living bodies of fish in fresh water to living in seawater

spawn swim bladder

the mass of eggs of aquatic a gas-filled sac present in the animals (such as fish) that body of many bony fishes, used lay many small eggs to maintain and control buoyancy