LSAT 152 – Section 2 – Question 08

LSAT 152 - Section 2 - Question 08

November 2018

You need a full course to see this video. Enroll now and get started in less than a minute.

Request new explanation

Target time: 0:44

This is question data from the 7Sage LSAT Scorer. You can score your LSATs, track your results, and analyze your performance with pretty charts and vital statistics - all with a Free Account ← sign up in less than 10 seconds

Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT152 S2 Q08
+LR
+Exp
Resolve reconcile or explain +RRE
Causal Reasoning +CausR
A
0%
149
B
98%
162
C
2%
151
D
0%
155
E
0%
155
123
130
138
 +Easiest 147.463 +SubsectionMedium

When researchers discovered that cuttlefish have the ability to make themselves suddenly appear larger, they presumed that this behavior, called a “startle display,” was used to scare off predators. A long-term study, however, reveals that cuttlefish never use startle displays to scare off predators but instead only use such displays to scare off small fish that do not prey on cuttlefish.

"Surprising" Phenomenon
Cuttlefish use their startle display to scare off harmless fish rather than predators.

Objective
The correct answer will be a hypothesis that explains why cuttlefish use startle displays. That explanation must result in cuttlefish gaining some benefit from using their startle display with small, harmless fish, but gaining either no benefit or a negligible benefit from using their startle display with predators.

A
Cuttlefish feed primarily on small fish and mollusks.
Cuttlefish use their startle displays on small fish. Why would cuttlefish want to scare off their prey?
B
Groups of small fish are likely to attract a cuttlefish’s predators.
Cuttlefish use their startle displays on small fish to pre-emptively avoid their predators. Small fish attract predators, so it makes sense cuttlefish would want to scare them away.
C
Small fish are more easily scared off by a startle display than are a cuttlefish’s predators.
This doesn’t explain why cuttlefish would bother scaring off small fish in the first place.
D
Cuttlefish have acute senses and are able to change colors.
Like (C), this doesn’t explain the why cuttlefish bother scaring off small fish. We don’t care about their other abilities.
E
Unlike insects that use startle displays, cuttlefish are usually able to move faster than their predators.
This explains why cuttlefish don’t use startle displays with predators. But why do they bother using them with small fish?

Take PrepTest

Review Results

LSAT PrepTest 152 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Reading Comprehension

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

Get full LSAT course

Leave a Reply