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the public demands ANSWERS (mander.xyz)
submitted 9 months ago by to c/science_memes@mander.xyz
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[–] 45 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (14 children)

Touch is a good option to distinguish between a jaguar and a shark in a dark room - jaguar is soft and shark is smooth. Easy. You'll never again confuse a jaguar with a shark.

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  • [–] 21 points 9 months ago (8 children)

    Shark's only smooth from front to back. Otherwise shark's sandpaper.

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  • [–] 11 points 9 months ago (6 children)

    Nope. Sharks are smooth as hell in all directions.

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  • [–] 14 points 9 months ago (5 children)

    In general, the crowns of dermal denticles have cusps pointing tailward, which is why a shark feels relatively smooth if stroked from head-to-tail but sandpapery coarse if stroked the other way.

    http://www.elasmo-research.org/education/white_shark/scales.htm

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  • [–] 8 points 9 months ago (4 children)

    It’s telling me that shark skin is “smooth from all directions and at all times”

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  • [–] 6 points 9 months ago* (3 children)

    Are you reading the same thing I'm reading? Literally every search result describes shark skin as dermal denticles, or sharp tooth-like scales aligned from front to back, "relatively smooth" in one direction, and sandpaper-like in the other.

    Apparently other animals regularly get injured brushing up against them.

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  • [–] 10 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    Well, I'm touching a shark right now. Rubbing it every which way. No direction is off limits. It's smoother than the finest silks

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  • [–] 8 points 9 months ago* (4 children)

    I remember when I went to an aquarium as a kid and touched the sting rays in the touch tank. That texture has stayed in my mind ever since. I still can't find anything it compares well to.

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