Sounds silly, doesn’t it?
Did you know that studying fluorescent sea creatures led to the revolution in television screens?
Makos, the world’s fastest sharks, have rows of millions of tiny raised scales along their sides and fins that researchers at the University of Alabama (UA) believe could be the reason for that lightning speed.
The mako’s scales, called denticles, are translucent, flexible and shaped like tiny shark teeth. The denticles are streamlined, so that from nose to tail the shark’s skin feels smooth, but in the reverse it's rough, like sandpaper.
If the water flow changes when a mako shark is swimming, its denticles rise automatically.
“It’s entirely passive, and happens in about 0.2 milliseconds,” Lang told NewScientist.
More of this interesting piece @ Shark skin studied by US military to make faster, more agile aircraft
