Fish aren’t going to win any races on land. But swimming in the pool is a different story. The sailfish, named for the funny fin along its back, can power through the water at up to 68 miles an hour — as fast as cars on a highway, and faster than a cheetah! Pushing through water is much harder work than running through air, so that’s pretty impressive speed – especially for a fish that weighs 200 pounds.
Wee ones: If a sailfish can turn blue, silver, purple, brown or gray, how many colors is that?
Little kids: If you swam alongside a 10-foot sailfish, how much longer than you would the fish be? (You can round your height to the nearest foot!) Bonus: If the sailfish swims 68 miles in an hour, and you drive your car 1 mile an hour faster, how fast is your car?
Big kids: No one knows the exact number, but scientists say cheetahs can run 59 miles per hour. If the sailfish can swim 68 miles an hour, how much faster is the fish? Bonus: The fastest human swimmer ever swam about 5 1/2 miles an hour. About how many times as fast is the sailfish? (Hint if needed: If the fish were just twice as fast, how fast would that be…?)
Answers:
Wee ones: 5 colors.
Little kids: Different for everyone…subtract your height in feet from 10. Bonus: 69 miles an hour.
Big kids: 9 miles an hour faster. Bonus: About 12 times as fast! Twice as fast would give us 11 miles an hour, and 68 is about 6 times as fast as that.
