Undersea Movements Reading Answers

Nov 18, 2022

Undersea Movements Reading Answers is divided into sections consisting of 13 questions that are to be answered in 20 minutes. The Undersea Movements Reading Answers consists of two types of questions including- Diagrammatic questions, one-word answers and complete the summary. For the one-word answer, candidates must read the IELTS reading passage, identify keywords, and recognize synonyms to answer the question. Candidates would be assessed for their reading skills based on their accuracy in answering the questions correctly.

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Section 1

Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions

Undersea Movements Reading Answers

The underwater world holds many challenges. The most basic of these is movement. The density of water makes it difficult for animals to move. Forward movement is a complex interaction of underwater forces. Additionally, water itself has movement. Strong currents carry incredible power that can easily sweep creatures away. The challenges to aquatic movement result in a variety of swimming methods, used by a wide range of animals. The result is a dazzling underwater ballet.
Fish rely on their skeleton, fins, and muscles to move. The primary function of the skeleton is to aid the movement of other parts. Their skull acts as a fulcrum and their vertebrae act as levers. The vertebral column consists of a series of vertebrae held together by ligaments, but not so tightly as to prevent slight sideways movement between each pair of vertebrae. The whole spine is, therefore, flexible. The skull is the only truly fixed part of a fish. It does not move in and off itself but acts as a point of stability for other bones. These other bones act as levers that cause movement of the fish’s body.
While the bones provide the movement, the muscles supply the power. A typical fish has hundreds of muscles running in all directions around its body. This is why a fish can turn and twist and change directions quickly. The muscles on each side of the spine contract in a series from head to tail and down each side alternately, causing a wave-like movement to pass down the body. Such a movement may be very pronounced in fish such as eels, but hardly perceptible in others, e.g. mackerel. The frequency of the waves varies from about 50/min in the dogfish to 170/min in the mackerel. The sideways and backward thrust of the head and body against the water results in the resistance of the water pushing the fish sideways and forwards in a direction opposed to the thrust. When the corresponding set of muscles on the other side contracts, the fish experience a similar force from the water on that side. The two sideways forces are equal and opposite unless the fish is making a turn, so they cancel out, leaving the sum of the two forward forces.
The muscles involved in swimming are of two main types. The bulk of a fish’s body is composed of the so-called white muscle, while the much smaller areas at the roots of the fins and in a strip along the center of each flank comprise red muscle. The red muscle receives a good supply of blood and contains ample quantities of fat and glycogen, the storage form of glucose, which is used for most day-to-day swimming movements. In contrast, the white muscle has a poor blood supply and few energy stores, and it is used largely for short-term, fast swimming. It might seem odd that the body of an animal that adapts adapted so efficiently to its environment should be composed almost entirely of a type of muscle it rarely uses. However, this huge auxiliary power pack carried by a fish is of crucial significance if the life of the fish is threatened by a predator, for instance-because it enables the fish to swim rapidly away from danger.
The fins are the most distinctive features of a fish, composed of bony spines protruding from the body with skin covering them and joining them together, either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or more similar to a flipper, as seen in sharks. These usually serve as a means for the fish to swim. But it must be emphasized that the swimming movements are produced by the whole of the muscular body, and in only a few fish do the fins contribute any propulsive force! Their main function is to control the stability and direction of the fish: as water passes over its body, a fish uses its fins to thrust in the direction it wishes to go.
Fins located in different places on a fish serve different purposes, such as moving forward, turning, and keeping an upright position. The tail fin, in its final lash, may contribute as much as 40 percent of the forward thrust. The median fins, that is, the dorsal, anal, and ventral fins, control the rolling and yawing movements of the fish by increasing the vertical surface area presented to the water. The paired fins, pectoral and pelvic act as hydroplanes and control the pitch of the ash, causing it to swim downwards or upwards according to the angle to the water at which they are held by their muscles. The pectoral fins lie in front of the center of gravity and, being readily mobile, are chiefly responsible for sending the ash up or down. The paired fins are also how the fish slows down and stops.
The swimming speed of fish is not as fast as one would expect from watching their rapid movements in aquaria or ponds. Tuna seems to be the fastest at 44 mph, trout are recorded as doing 23 mph, pike at 20 mph for short bursts, and roach about 10 mph, while the majority of small fish probably do not exceed 2 or 3 mph. Many people have attempted to make accurate measurements of the speed at which various fish swim, either by timing them over known distances in their natural environment or by determining their performance in man-made swimming channels. From these studies, we can broadly categorize fish into four groups: “sneakers”, such as eels that are only capable of slow speeds but possess some staying power; “stayers”, that can swim quite fast over long periods; “sprinters” that can generate fast bursts of speed (e.g. pike); and “crawlers” that are sluggish swimmers, although they can accelerate slightly (bream, for example).
One type of sailfish is considered to be the fastest species of fish over short distances, achieving 68 mph over a three-second period, and anglers have recorded speeds in excess of 40 mph over longer periods for several species of tuna. One is likely to consider a fish’s swimming capabilities in relation to its size. However, it is generally true that a small fish is a more able swimmer than a much larger one. On the other hand in terms of speed in miles per hour, a big fish will, all other things being equal, be able to swim faster than a smaller fish.

Section 2

Solution and Explanation
Questions 1-6:
The Passage has 8 paragraphs A-H.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the appropriate letter, A-H, in boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet.

Question 1. _______ categorizations of Fish by swimming speed

Answer: G
Supporting Sentence: The swimming speed of fish is not so fast as one would expect from watching their rapid movements in aquaria or ponds
Keywords: swimming, speed, rapid movements, fast bursts of speed
Keyword Location: Paragraph G, Line 7-11
Explanation: as one might assume from the rapid movements of the fish, their swimming speed in rivers and ponds is not that fast.

Question 2. _______ an example of fish capable of maintaining fast swimming for a long time

Answer: H
Supporting Sentence: Sailfish is considered to be the fastest species of fish over short distances.
Keywords: Sailfish, Fastest species, longer periods
Keyword Location: Paragraph H, Line 1-3
Explanation: the fastest species of fish for short distance is Sailfish

Question 3. _______ how fish control stability

Answer: E
Supporting Sentence: Their main function is to control the stability and direction of the fish.
Keywords: stability, control.
Keyword Location: Para E, Line 6-8
Explanation: the stability and direction of the fish is controlled by fins of the fish

Question 4. _______ frequency of the muscle movement of fish

Answer: C
Supporting Sentence: The frequency of the waves varies from about 50/min in the dogfish to 170/min in the mackerel
Keywords: Frequency, muscle, movement,
Keyword Location: Para C, Line 6-7

Question 5. _______ a mechanical model of a fish skeleton

Answer: B
Supporting Sentence: Fish rely on their skeleton, fins, and muscles to move.
Keywords: Skeleton, Fins, Skull, Spine
Keyword Location: Para B, Line 2-6
Explanation: the fishes rely on their skeleton fins as well as their muscles so that they are able to move.

Question 6. _______ energy storage devices in a fish

Answer: D
Supporting Sentence: The red muscle receives a good supply of blood and contains ample quantities of fat and glycogen, the storage form of glucose. This is used for most day-to-day swimming movements.
Keyword: Storage
Keyword Location: Para D, Line 3-5
Explanation: the storage of glucose used by the fishes for their daily movements in swimming is received by the red muscles of the fishes with a good blood supply. It contains ample quantities of fat and glycogen.

Questions 7-10:
The diagram below gives information about fish fins and their purposes.
Complete the diagram with NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each blank

Write your answers in boxes 7-10 on your answer sheet.

Question 7:

Answer: Forward Thrust
Supporting Sentence: The tail fin, in its final lash, may contribute as much as 40 percent of the forward thrust.
Keywords: fin, final las
Keyword Location: (PARA F, Line 3)
Explanation: 40% of the forward thrust is contributed by the tail fin which is within its final lash.

Question 8:

Answer: Rolling and Yawning
Supporting Sentence: The median fins, that is, the dorsal, anal, and ventral fins, control the rolling and yawing movements of the fish. This helps in increasing the vertical surface area presented to the water.
Keywords: median fins, dorsal, anal
Keyword Location: (PARA F, Line 4)
Explanation: the rolling and yawning movements of the fish by increasing the vertical surface presented to the water is controlled by the median fins. Thai includes the dorsal, anal and ventral fins.

Question 9:

Answer: Pectoral and Pelvic
Supporting Sentence: The paired fins, pectoral and pelvic act as hydroplanes and control the pitch of the ash
Keywords: paired fins, pectoral, pelvic
Keyword Location: (PARA F, Line 5)
Explanation: the pitch of the ash is controlled by the paired fins, pectoral and pelvic which acts as hydroplanes.

Question 10:

Answer: Slows and Stops
Supporting Sentence: The paired fins are also the means by which the fish slows down and stops.
Keyword Location: (PARA F, Line 9)
Explanation: the paired fins of the fish helps it to slow down and stops the fish from swimming

Questions 11-13:
Complete the summary below using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each blank.
Write your answers in boxes 11-13 on your answer sheet.

Two types of muscles are involved in fish swimming. The majority of a fish’s body comprises the 11 _________________ and the red muscle is found only at the roots of the fins and in a strip along the centre of each flank. For most of its routine movements, the fish uses a lot of its 12___________________ saved in body, and white muscle is mostly used for short-term, fast swimming, such as escaping from 13 ___________

Question 11:

Answer: White Muscle
Supporting Sentence: The bulk of a fish’s body is composed of the so-called white muscle
Keywords: white muscle, bulk
Keyword Location: Para D, Line 2.
Explanation: the white muscle in the fish’s body includes a bulk of the muscle which is composed of the same white muscle.

Question 12:

Answer: Fats and Glycogen
Supporting Sentence: The red muscle receives a good supply of blood and contains ample quantities of fat and glycogen
Keywords: red muscle, supply,
Keyword Location: Para D, Line 4
Explanation: the storage of glucose used by the fishes for their daily movements in swimming is received by the red muscles of the fishes with a good blood supply. It contains ample quantities of fat and glycogen

Question 13:

Answer: Predator/Danger
Supporting Sentence: This huge auxiliary power pack carried by a fish is of crucial significance if the life of the fish is threatened by a predator
Keywords: auxiliary, crucial, predator
Keyword Location: Para D, Line 10.
Explanation: one of the most crucial part of the fish is its huge auxiliary power pack which allows a fish to be alert in case it is threatened by a predator

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