CR weaken question

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CR weaken question

by bhopalkararpit » Thu Jul 12, 2012 8:01 pm
Marine biologists have long believed that the Scottish Salmon developed its distinctive shiny tailfin as a way to confuse its predators by reflecting light from the sun off of its tailfin and into its predators' eyes, causing the predator to become disoriented and lose the fish. New evidence shows that this cannot possibly be the case, as scientists have observed that the shiny tailfin attracts a bird of prey called the Red Wing Hawk through its reflection of the sunlight, which catches the attention of the bird above and causes it to swoop down and devour the fish.
Which of the following, if true, undermines the conclusion above?
A. Red Wing Hawks have only within the past two years started to inhabit any geographical areas in common with the Scottish Salmon.
B. Red Wing Hawks are one of many bird species to prey upon the Scottish Salmon.
C. The color of the tailfin of the Scottish Salmon is nearly the same color as that of a large sea plant very common to the regions in which most of the fish live.
D. The tailfin of the Scottish Salmon acts as a decoy which attracts minnows, a main source of food for the fish.
E. Red Wing Hawks have relatively poor eyesight in comparison with other birds of prey that primarily prey upon fish.
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

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by Bill@VeritasPrep » Thu Jul 12, 2012 8:15 pm
Conclusion: the previous argument that the shiny tailfin is used to confuse predators cannot be true because it actually attracts the red wing hawk.

A--correct; the previous argument was made before the red wing hawk arrived into the salmon's environment ("long believed...") Thus, the argument was correct based on the existing conditions.

B--other birds that pray on the salmon are irrelevant to the argument

C--this could provide an alternate explanation for why the tailfin developed as it did, but it does not undermine the conclusion

D--other uses of the tailfin are irrelevant to the argument

E--we are not concerned with other birds of prey
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by bhopalkararpit » Thu Jul 12, 2012 8:42 pm
thanks a lot,
but can answer choice E also weaken the observation of the scientists that some other power help the Hawks to prey upon the Fish ?
i mean if their(hawks) eyesight is weaker than other predators of the fish , then it may be that the hawks are not bothered by any reflection from fish..and in reality they prey on fish by some extra sense of prey.