There’s a fish called a sunfish – and yes, there’s also a moonfish! The sunfish is huge, boring gray, and not very cute. It can weigh 2,000 pounds or more and grow 12 feet long. It likes to swim in the warm, sunny water near the surface (top), and when its fin pops up it looks like a shark’s. The moonfish is a cheerful orangey-pink, and it’s smaller – but still weighs weighs around 600 pounds. So they both have cool names, but good luck keeping one as a pet!
Wee ones: If you have 2 pet sunfish and 2 pet moonfish, how many fish do you have?
Little kids: If you have 9 pet fish and 6 of those are sunfish, how many could be moonfish? Bonus:If a baby moonfish eats 3 jellyfish a day and its mom eats 10 times as many, how many does the mom eat?
Big kids: Sunfish are about 12 feet long, and moonfish are about half as long. How long are moonfish? Bonus: Which is heavier, your 4,200-pound car, or a pair of 2,200-pound sunfish?
Answers:
Wee ones: 4 fish.
Little kids: As many as 3 moonfish. Bonus: 30 jellyfish.
Big kids: 6 feet long. Bonus: The two fish weigh more, as together they weigh 4,400 pounds!
