Virtual Learning Center

Vocabulary Words

  • Shoal:  A group of fish (can be of different species) that stays loosely together for social and protective reasons.
  • School:  A group of the same species of fish that are swimming in the same direction together in a coordinated way and can form shapes in the water. 

Fun Facts

  • There are about 1270 species of Killifish!  Our Striped Killifish, Banded Killifish and Mummichog are only 3 of the species.
  • Killifish can tolerate extremes in temperature, salinity and even oxygen levels.  For this reason, Killifish were the first-ever fish sent into space in 1973 aboard Skylab, the United States’ first space station to see how fish would tolerate zero gravity.  The fish had a hard time finding which way was up or down while swimming!
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