Q8 - When researchers discovered that cuttlefish

[ohthatpatrick]

Question Type:
Explain Discrepancy

Stimulus Breakdown:
GIVEN THAT startle displays are usually used to scare off predators,
WHY IS IT THAT cuttlefish use startle displays to scare off small fish that don't prey on them?

Answer Anticipation:
I don't usually try to predict answers to paradox questions, but my quick guess here is that scaring off the small fish is a technique that INDIRECTLY helps keep predators away.

Correct Answer:
B

Answer Choice Analysis:
(A) Sounds like they're scaring away their food supply. OPPOSITE

(B) YES, I've been doing LSAT for too long, because I saw that one coming.

(C) This just reiterates the background of the paradox (scares small fish, not predators), but doesn't explain why they want to scare small fish.

(D) What the heck does this have to do with explaining why they use startle displays to scare small fish?

(E) This might help explain why they don't need startle displays to deal with predators, but it does nothing to explain why cuttlefish DO use startle displays, which is what the question stem asks.

Takeaway/Pattern: We should be able to get this one right as long as we've prephrased the idea that we need to explain "why do cuttlefish scare away small fish? How does it benefit the cuttlefish?" Only one answer provided a benefit.

#officialexplanation

[andrewgong01]

To rule out Choice A did we have to assume that startle display is used to scare of predators? The passage only said it is "presumed" it was a "startle display that was used to scare off predators" but that leaves open the possibility that maybe startled displays is used to to attack their prey too

I did sense "B" as sounding correct but never found a better reason to rule out "A" because of the assumption embedded in "A" where , i think, we must assume that startle display can not be used to attack their prey