PrepTest 131, Section 1, Question 22
Last summer, after a number of people got(59 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(16 more words not shown)
- AP. australis is(25 more words not shown)
- BP. australis naturally(20 more words not shown)
- CScientists have used(10 more words not shown)
- DA sharp decline(18 more words not shown)
- EP. australis cannot(20 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
The warning makes sense: people got sick after eating local anchovies, apparently because the fish contained a harmful toxin. But then the author changes the subject to plankton. Why should fewer plankton tell us that the anchovies are safe?
Perhaps the plankton are an indicator of how much domoic acid is present. Or perhaps they produce the acid themselves, so a large population creates the problem. Either way, we need a connection between the plankton's population and the toxin in the fish.
What we’re looking for
The question asks why lifting the advisory is now justified. The new fact is a drop back to normal plankton numbers, not the disappearance of every plankton organism. I want an answer showing how that change makes the anchovies safe to eat.
Working the answers
- A
This is relevant: eating the plankton makes anchovies secrete domoic acid. Fewer plankton could mean less of that process. But we still have P. australis at normal levels, and A says other common varieties can have the same effect. It does not tell us whether the amounts now produced would be safe. A starts connecting the dots without explaining why the reduced population resolves the danger.
- BCorrect
This connects the population change to the amount needed to make anchovies toxic. P. australis produces domoic acid, but the fish consume enough to become toxic only when that plankton's population is extraordinarily large. The population has now fallen to normal numbers, so the stated condition for toxic consumption no longer holds.
That is the distinction missing from A: a population threshold for danger. B does not need the plankton or the acid to disappear entirely. It explains why a normal population does not create the toxic dose that prompted the advisory.
- C
Obtaining acid from plankton in a laboratory suggests a connection between them, but it does not explain the amount anchovies consume in coastal waters or when that amount becomes toxic. The laboratory fact alone does not explain why normal plankton numbers make the fish safe.
- D
Fewer anchovies would not establish safer anchovies. The advisory concerns whether eating the fish exposes people to the toxin, not how many fish remain. A population decline leaves that question unanswered.
- E
This says a large plankton population requires significant acid and other compounds. It does not say acid requires a large plankton population. The population could fall for another reason while the acid remained. We therefore cannot infer safe fish from the lower plankton count using E's rule.
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