Shark skin: function in locomotion.
Hydrostatic pressure under the skin of sharks varies with swimming speed. Stress in the skin varies with the internal pressure, and the skin stress controls skin stiffness. Locomotory muscles attach to the skin which is thus a whole-body exotendon whose mechanical advantage in transmitting muscular contraction is greater than that of the endoskeleton.
Wainwright
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SA
Vosburgh
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Hebrank
J H
JH