From today's CAT.

Disclaimer* this CR has been edited and altered from the original. Nevertheless, there is only one correct answer.

Usually we get just under two minutes to solve CRs, but I will give you guys THREE minutes to crack the riddle for this mind bender

Which of the following best completes the passage below?

Professor Higgins from the Paleontology department asserted that the Coelacanth was the largest member of the class Osteichthyes (the hard boned fishes) to survive the extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous period around 65 million years ago. Indeed, the discovery of the Coelacanths still living off the coasts of West Africa shows that the ancient fish is hardier than anyone could have imagined. Professor Higgin's assertion, however, was recently shown to be incorrect when ___________.

A. it was proven that sharks, perhaps the best known representatives of Chrondrichtytes, have been around for over 150 million years.
B. it was pointed out that the Cretaceous period spanned several millions of years, therefore causing mutations amongst most members of the Osteichthye class.
C. Paleontologists discovered an 85 million year old fossil of Osteichthye, a a hard boned fish that was virtually identical to, yet twice the size of, the largest Coelacanth on record.
D. a 50-million year old fossil of megalodon carpodon was reclassified from class Chrondrichtytes to class Osteichthyes.
E. a nobel prize winning emeritis Professor called into question the use of the term "Osteichthyes" when in fact not all fish in the class have hard bones.

Answer choices like "My guess is X" or (X) contribute nothing to understanding the logic behind this question. PLEASE explain WHY you chose your answer.

Let the debating begin...

I think its D

Based on the stem the professors assertion can only be proved wrong if the species of the fish is found outside of the range of 65 million years.

A Irrelevant
B Out of scope
C Irrelevant
D Proffessors assertion is proved wrong due to the miss classification of species and the finding that this species was found only to be a million year old .
E Out of scope

Tough one. Going with B.

A - Out of scope. No word on Chrondrichtytes.
B - May be. Mutations indicates a change in the organism and could ledn to disporve the theory
C - 85million year old fossil does not contradict or provide evidence to disprove the stated theory
D - Reclassification and Chrondrichtytes again. Not a choice
E - Seems way out of scope

Unable to eliminate B.

Between E and B, B

A. it was proven that sharks, perhaps the best known representatives of Chrondrichtytes, have been around for over 150 million years.
out - conclusion is about the survival of a representative of the ostechiiiix, not chondriiiiiiiiiiiiiix.

B. it was pointed out that the Cretaceous period spanned several millions of years, therefore causing mutations amongst most members of the Osteichthye class.
hummm - that means that the coelacanth could have been smaller before the cretaceous period than during that period.
reconsidering it, OUT, because it is out of scope. There is a classification, whatever mutations happened at that time.

C. Paleontologists discovered an 85 million year old fossil of Osteichthye, a a hard boned fish that was virtually identical to, yet twice the size of, the largest Coelacanth on record.
OUT - doesn't contradict anything

D. a million year old fossil of megalodon carpodon was reclassified from class Chrondrichtytes to class Osteichthyes.
Hummm - I tink it's a trap- "Mega"lodon make us think it could be a very big fish, bigger than the coelacanth, and has disappeared 1Mio years ago. But there are no evidences that it is a bigger fish. OUT

E. a nobel prize winning emeritis Professor called into question the use of the term "Osteichthyes" when in fact not all fish in the class have hard bones.
POE...No, I cannot accept it. It is not because a professor emeritis called into question, that Higgin is wrong.
OUT

So between B and D, I go with B, but am not convinced at all since I didn't find any evidence that Higgin IS wrong.

A. it was proven that sharks, perhaps the best known representatives of Chrondrichtytes, have been around for over 150 million years.
B. it was pointed out that the Cretaceous period spanned several millions of years, therefore causing mutations amongst most members of the Osteichthye class.
C. Paleontologists discovered an 85 million year old fossil of Osteichthye, a a hard boned fish that was virtually identical to, yet twice the size of, the largest Coelacanth on record.
D. a million year old fossil of megalodon carpodon was reclassified from class Chrondrichtytes to class Osteichthyes.
E. a nobel prize winning emeritis Professor called into question the use of the term "Osteichthyes" when in fact not all fish in the class have hard bones.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's D. Here's the logic: Megalodon carpodon was alive a million years ago. So, it survived the Cretaceous.
Megalodon has been reassigned to class Osteichthyes.
Megalodon may or may not be bigger than the Coelacanths. But, there is a distinct possibility that other species may be reassigned to the Osteichthyes, rendering the prof's assertion false.

A talk about sharks --- out of scope
C. Misleading and information about fossils and nothing useful - irrelevant
E. out of scope.

caught between B and D.

I like B better than D , because Coelacanth would have not survived but its mutating form still alives ...

Claim: Fish C is the largest fish in Class O that survived an extinction event at 65 millions ago.
What would make the claim wrong?


Sharks are not in class O, so irrelavent.

Mutations are irrelevant about who is the largest fish in that class.

This fish is class O, and larger, but the fossil is from 85 million years ago so no evidence that it was still around at 65 million years ago.

Fish M survived to 1 million years ago, and is reclassified to class O. If it is a larger fish than fish C, then this is what we need.

The definition of the class O is irrelavent here.

I would choose D.
_________________

Keep on asking, and it will be given you;
keep on seeking, and you will find;
keep on knocking, and it will be opened to you.

hardier: capable of withstanding adverse conditions (according to webster)

I think the focus of the discussion is not size, not classfication, but the ability to endure. That way if A is not the answer, then only B can be the answer.

B is possible because, lot of species of the same period may be alive today but like lizards or cats or humans or anthing else due to mutations..

Hence Coelacanth is great because it did nt under go mutation unlike other fish of that period. Not because of its hardiness. Hence professor can be wrong.
_________________

The path is long, but self-surrender makes it short;
the way is difficult, but perfect trust makes it easy.

This one must have been difficult: 3/16 (~20%) of you guys got it correct (including one "big gun")

OA is (D)

OE is attached

Note: The revised answer choice B was added from a similiar question. Nevertheless, it is out of scope and (D) is the winner.

Now that's a toughy!