NEWS BREAK

Article: 6-foot shark is world’s largest glowing vertebrate NEW ZEALAND

Section: MAIN, A14

Sunday's News Break selects an article from Sunday, March 7, 2021 of The Seattle Times print replica for an in-depth reading of the news. Read the selected article and answer the attached study questions.

You are encouraged to modify this lesson to fit the needs of your students. For example, some teachers might use this as a take-home assignment and others might read and answer the questions in a small group or larger, class discussion.

*Please be sure to preview all NIE content before using it in your classroom to ensure it is appropriate for your students.

Standards:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.1

• Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.2

• Determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key details; summarize the text.

Objectives:

Students will discuss animal experimentation, and if it’s necessary to understand and study their bodies. They’ll discuss other ways scientists might be able to learn without euthanizing them. Students will share whether they’ve ever seen an animal that is bioluminescent. They’ll also discuss if there’s a way to reduce resource exploitation of our oceans.

Pre-Reading Discussion:

• What do you think the article will be about, using only this picture? • Are there clues? • What can you infer?

Vocabulary Building:

Read this sentence, what do you think the highlighted words mean using context clues? A context clue is a word or words that are hints and refers to the sources of information outside of words that readers may use to predict the identities and meanings of unknown words.

“Researchers have discovered that the animals’ bioluminescence is activated by melatonin, the same hormone that makes humans fall asleep.”

Bioluminescence Guess:

Bioluminescence Definition:

Comprehension Questions:

1. As they prowl the oceans, sharks aren’t just hunting. Some of them are ______. 2. Researchers have identified the largest ______species with a spine — on land or sea — ever found. 3. A study published last month in Frontiers in Marine Science established that kitefin sharks — a species that grows to almost 6 feet long — emits what? 4. Researchers have discovered that the animals’ bioluminescence is activated by ______, the same hormone that makes humans fall asleep. 5. That project went as far down as 2,600 feet to document numbers of hoki, a white-fleshed fish that supports New Zealand’s largest commercial fishery. As the survey netted fish, Mallefet and colleagues would scan the catch for sharks, which were able to survive the drastic pressure change because of their lack of ______. 6. Live sharks were transferred to tanks in a dark, cold room, where the team photographed them, including the kitefin shark’s spectacular ______. 7. Once photographed alive, specimens of the three shark species were ______, with samples of skin dissected, allowing the researchers to examine their flashlight like luminous organs. 8. Testing melatonin and other hormones on lantern shark and kitefin shark skin samples during the survey, his team confirmed that melatonin activates their what? 9. Bioluminescence is a complex trait that has evolved independently in a diverse array of organisms, including what? 10. Bioluminescence is a biochemical reaction that relies on ______, which are small molecules that react with proteins called luciferases to produce light.

Discussion Questions (small/large groups), Journal Prompts or Essay Questions:

• What surprised (or stood out to) you in the article? • At first I thought ______, but now I think ______? • What things did you already know from prior experience?

Once photographed alive, specimens of the three shark species were euthanized, with samples of skin dissected, allowing the researchers to examine their flashlight like luminous organs.

• Do you think the sharks had to be put to death after being photographed? Why or why not? • How do you feel about animal experimentation? Is it necessary to understand and study animals and their bodies? • Do you think there are ways scientists can learn and study without euthanizing them? • Could they have caught and released the shark? Tagging them to study? Why didn’t they?

Tiny lantern sharks were already known to be luminous tricksters. Blue-green bioluminescent organs on their belly help them blend in with bluish light from above, so they can avoid detection by larger predators while possibly illuminating shrimp and squid on the seafloor — their dinner table. A glowing undercarriage also advertises reproductive organs to mates. Mallefet calls lantern sharks — as multipurpose masters — MacGyvers of light. He had previously discovered that the organs that produce light in sharks are not controlled by their nervous systems, in contrast with many other bioluminescent organisms. Instead, chemical tests showed that shark light is regulated by the hormone melatonin. “It makes us fall asleep,” Mallefet said, “but it’s lighting up the shark.”

• Have you ever seen an animal that is bioluminescent? Which one? What did you think?

And while gratified to have photographed the largest known glowing shark, he hopes to illuminate more enigmas in the ocean. “Down there, there are glowing critters of different sizes, perhaps even larger than kitefin sharks, that we still know nothing about,” he said, adding that with resource exploitation of the deep sea becoming increasingly widespread, it’s time to study this ecosystem before we destroy it.

• Is there a way to reduce resource exploitation of our oceans? Why or why not?

News Break is posted to the Web on Monday. Please share this NIE News Break program with other teachers. To sign-up for the print replica for your class, please register on-line or call 206/652-6290 or toll-free 1-888/775-2655. Copyright © 2021 The Seattle Times Company