Question

Passage 1
The Octopus Mother
by Don C. Reed

Answer 1

Passage 1
The Octopus Mother
by Don C. Reed

Reaching toward the ceiling of the underwater cave, the octopus mother touched something white and delicate and beautiful. Her suckered arms stroked what looked like a piece of lace from a wedding dress.
This was her egg sac, containing perhaps two hundred thousand tiny octopus eggs, all stuck together. In each transparent eggshell was a baby octopus, as big as the head of a pin.
Many of the babies were already wiggling, nearly ready to be born. The mother octopus kept the egg sac clean so that water could filter through. The babies had to breathe through tiny holes in the thin wall of the sac. If underwater dust settled onto it, the babies would not be able to breathe.
There were a lot of eggs; there had to be. After hatching, all but one or two of the babies would be eaten by fish, lobsters, sharks, and other creatures of the sea. But they would not be eaten yet, not while their mother was there to protect them.
Outside the cave were several scattered crab shells. Octopuses eat crabs by biting them, paralyzing them with poison, and then sucking and plucking out the crabmeat.
These crab shells were old. The octopus mother had not eaten in more than a week. She would not leave her babies for any reason now, not even food. She might die of hunger, but she would not leave her eggs.
. . .

Three days later, as a sunbeam entered the cave, one of the eggs broke apart. A tiny transparent octopus wriggled out. Except for its black eyes, it seemed to be made out of crystal.
Soon there was another and another beside it, then dozens, then hundreds, and finally thousands. The current picked up the babies, carrying them away.
Most of them would be eaten by fish. But a few would survive. They had a chance now.
The octopus mother watched them go.
Copyright (c) 1997 by Highlights for Children, Inc., Columbus, Ohio.

Passage 2
Facts about Octopus

Octopi, the plural of octopus, live in many different parts of the ocean. In the ocean, they prefer to live in coral reefs. Octopi have eight arms. The arms of an octopus have cups that can suck. In fact, the arms can also detect the flow of water.
Most octopi have soft bodies without an internal skeleton or internal shells. They also lack a protective outer shell. The only hard part in the body of an octopus is a beak which is almost shaped like a parrot's beak. The beak helps the octopus to squeeze through narrow slits between underwater rocks. Being able to squeeze through very narrow slits between underwater rocks is very helpful when an octopus is fleeing from its enemies.
An octopus usually needs to flee from morays or other fish that eat octopi. Some octopi may have two fins and an internal shell. In this case, it is harder for them to squeeze into small spaces.
Octopi have a relatively short life span. Larger species, such as the North Pacific Giant Octopus, may live for up to five years in good conditions.
However, reproduction is a sure cause of death. Male octopi can only live for a few months after mating. Females die shortly after their eggs hatch.
A female octopus may also neglect to eat during the (roughly) one month period after mating. The entire month is spent taking care of her unhatched eggs. A mother octopus doesn't die of starvation. A female octopus will die because of how she is built by nature.
A female octopus has glands near her eyes that secret a substance that will kill her. Glands are body parts that produce secretions which an animal needs. If these glands are removed by operation, the female octopus may live for months after reproduction.
However, even though she remains alive after reproducing, the female octopus will continue to starve herself.

7. Using the information you gathered from the second passage, what do you think will happen to the octopus mother in the first passage?
She will move to a coral reef.
She will follow her babies.
She is going to lay more eggs.
She is going to die soon.

Answer 2

Wrong section. you're looking for the writing section

Answer 3

@aaronq weird i swore i put it there srry