LSAT 146 | Section 1 | Logical Reasoning: Q13

LR Question 13 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Specially bred aquarium fish with brilliant coloration…

QUESTION TYPE: Most Strongly Supported

FACTS:

1. Specially bred aquarium fish have amazing colors and unusual body shapes. The author doesn’t consider them as good as ordinary fish.
2. Special fish are often underfed. Reason: Special fish have weird fins. This makes the special fish slow. That means regular fish can get to food faster than the special fish can. 
3. The special fish can’t always produce babies that have the same special coloration/fins.

ANALYSIS: This stimulus says three extremely simple things, but uses complex words. Here are the three facts:

• Specially bred fish have unique colors and fins.
• The fins make them slow. So they can’t reach food quickly.
• They can’t always produce babies that have their colors/fins.

Here are some examples of complex phrases from the stimulus:

“They do not breed true” = the fish can’t breed babies that look like them.
“Hampered by their elaborate tails or….” = the tails and fins make the fish slow.

Etc. When you come across very complex sentences, don’t rush the the answers. Take the time to read them thoroughly, and refer back to earlier sections. For example, in the final sentence, you may not have understood “breed true”. But the second part of the sentence explains that term. So you can read the stimulus’ explanation, figure out what “breed true” means, and then you understand the whole sentence.

___________

1. Not so. We know the specially bred fish are often underfed. But underfed doesn’t equal dead. And also, this answer says “must”. That means the fish will always die without special care. The stimulus isn’t that extreme – it only says the fish are “often” underfed.
2. Not necessarily. We know the brightly colored fish are popular, but that doesn’t mean that all other fish are unpopular. For example, connoisseurs might like certain dull fish if they are fast, or deadly fighters, or have some other unique trait.
3. This doesn’t follow. Connoisseurs like specially bred fish, but connoisseurs might be a tiny portion of the market. The word implies someone with special knowledge or special liking, so connoisseurs by definition are relatively few in number.
4. CORRECT. This is well supported by the second sentence. The specially bred fish are “hampered” by their special fins and tails, and so ordinary fish can reach food faster. This implies that the ordinary fish do not have the special fins. (Otherwise, the ordinary fish would also be slow)
5. This mangles two ideas from the stimulus. The stimulus actually said:
    
   1. The fins interfere with swimming.
   2. The fish can’t reliably produce offspring like themselves. But they can still reproduce (duller babies).