For millions of years of existence, nature has achieved the perfection of its offspring - the shark, bringing its body to the body of an ideal predator.
Everything in this creature is perfect - both ideal forms for movement in water, and powerful weapons - teeth, as it should be for a predator, and the ability of its body to resist various diseases, which is also important for a predator that eats different foods, including sick aquatic animals. With its powerful jaws, it can even bite through the shell of a turtle, and the speed that a shark can develop is amazing.
It is the unique, perfect structure of each cell in the body of sharks that helped them survive those natural disasters that killed many other animals and withstand fierce competition in the animal world of the seas and oceans.

Reliable shark body cover

Like other fish, the shark is equipped with scales. And here mother nature did a great job, creating a reliable and very practical shell for the body of a shark.
Shark skin is covered with so-called placoid scales. The word "placoid" is derived from the Greek words "plakos" (plate, plane) and "eidos" (form, appearance).
Each such scale is a subcutaneous plate with a tooth that goes out through the skin; while the tooth on the scale is directed towards the back of the shark's body, i.e. to her tail.

The shape of the scales can be varied, you can see this in the figures below, and there is an interesting detail - the scales seem to repeat the shape of the shark's teeth.
If you remember from the materials of this site, each type of shark has its own, special shape of teeth. The same can be said about the shape of the scales on the skin of sharks. Therefore, it is not surprising that shark scales are also called “skin teeth”. Inside the skin tooth there is a cavity containing loose tissue, nerves and blood vessels - the pulp, and several channels extending from it - in general, everything is like in real teeth.

Shark teeth and scales have a similar external and internal structure, as well as the ability to constantly change. These elements of the body of sharks have the same origin, as they appeared as a result of a mutation in ancient fish in the form of a neoplasm in the skin. But, performing different functions, placoid scales and teeth acquired certain differences in structure and size, specific to each type of shark.

If you dare to stroke the shark "against the grain", then for sure the matter will end with peeled skin on your hands. In addition, the skin of sharks is so strong that it is not always possible to pierce it even with a knife.
In some places, the scales reach a considerable thickness and can withstand loads on the body up to half a ton per square centimeter. The body of a shark is reliably protected from the teeth of other predatory inhabitants of sea waters.

Each scale is covered with a layer of special enamel - vitrodentin, which gives them strength. Shark teeth are covered with similar enamel.
The fatty secretion secreted by the shark's skin envelops the scales, creating a special coating on the body of the fish, which reduces the shark's resistance to sliding in the water. Everything is thought out and optimized as much as possible!

The plactoid scales cover almost the entire body of the shark, only the gill slits remain vulnerable to outside invasion. By the way, in many manuals on repelling shark attacks, it is recommended to hit the gills, which sometimes helps to scare away the predator. Entering the oral cavity of the shark, the scales form shark teeth - the same scales, only much larger. Modifying, shark skin scales also form other bone outgrowths on the body of some species, for example, spines of katrans and saw blades.

The figure below shows fragments of the skin of sharks of various species with scales depicted on them. As you can see, the shape of the scales and the location of the plactoid scales on the skin of predators can vary greatly.
Nevertheless, it should be noted that in individuals of the same species of sharks, the location and even shape of the scales in different parts of the body may differ, so it can be quite difficult to determine the type of shark from one plactoid scales or skin fragments.

Man has long appreciated such qualities of shark skin as the extreme strength and endurance of its scales to mechanical stress.
It was these qualities of the skin that served the sharks, in "communication" with people, an unkind service. Since ancient times, the skin of sharks has been used in various areas of human activity - both as sandpaper, which is extremely wear-resistant, and as the so-called shagreen leather, which has unique properties due to its strength. Just think - in terms of strength indicators, shagreen is ten times superior to cowhide!

It is pleasant to touch the pebbled skin (unlike the skin of a living shark) - it is soft and smooth, as if a virtuoso hairdresser worked on its surface with a razor. Modern technologies make it possible to paint shagreen in any color, for every taste.
Such leather was an indispensable raw material for the shoe industry, in addition, it was used and is used in haberdashery. There used to be a saying that shagreen boots are easier to lose than to wear out.

Shark scales are often referred to as skin denticles; in terms of strength and structure, it is close to bones: tiny protrusions sit on a diamond-shaped plate, really resembling teeth. Scales create almost ideal hydrodynamic conditions for sharks. Due to the pattern of depressions and protrusions, the scales dampen turbulent disturbances in the streams of water flowing around the shark's body and reduce environmental resistance, which makes these fish almost the fastest swimmers.

But, as it turned out, the possibilities of shark skin are not limited to this. According to the staff of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University (USA), no accurate quantitative studies have yet been conducted on how scales affect the speed of shark movement in real time, that is, with changes in speed, direction of movement, etc. To evaluate all hydrodynamic advantages of shark skin, Johannes Offner and George Lauder attached pieces of shark skin to a special underwater robot and checked how fast the underwater vehicle would move. The researchers note that the shark skin was not rigidly attached to mimic the flexibility and mobility of the skin on live fish.

According to zoologists in an article published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, shark skin increased the speed of movement under water by 12%, and this was not only due to a decrease in water resistance and a decrease in turbulence. It turned out that the structure of the scales contributes to the formation of water vortices near the surface of the body of the fish, which push it forward. That is, the water also slightly pushes the shark in the direction of movement.

Not only the shape of each individual scale works for this effect, but also their location on the skin. Scientists hope that research in this direction will help create special coatings for ships, underwater vehicles and wetsuits that would facilitate movement in the water. However, so far, all attempts to adopt the hydrodynamic tricks of sharks have not led to any impressive results ...

News of cryptozoology: http://www.cryptozoo.ru/

Today we have Friday, May 12, 2017, and the next episode of the capital show Field of Miracles is on the air, and today the guests are spinning the drum in the studio again! And of course, we have prepared for you the correct answers to rather difficult questions that the participants of the show answer today. What do Pacific Islanders make from shark skin? 9 letters

The correct answer to the question is FILE

In addition, the muscle layer on the abdomen of predators is too thin, so the placoid scale also performs supporting functions, supporting the organs of the peritoneum. Previously, hunting for sea giants was carried out not so much because of the valuable liver, but because of their shagreen skin: protective aprons for blacksmiths were made from it, the handles of knives and swords, and shields were covered with leather.

Shark scales were used for polishing metals, stones, wood and marble, for book bindings. The first files were also made from it. By the way, some ocean settlements still use emery and files made from the skins of these marine animals. Now handbags, wallets, cases and other accessories are made from shagreen.

A formidable inhabitant of the seas and oceans, the majestic shark, falling into the hands of people, on the shore became a source of many products. Some of its parts were eaten, all kinds of handicrafts, musical instruments were made from the skin, fat was extracted from the liver. which was used in various spheres of life, including for the production of medicines and vitamin A. For example, shark squalene has positive reviews and today, it is actively used in cosmetics, medicine. In addition, shark teeth and bones were actively used to make a wide variety of weapons, both ritual and self-defense.

At one time, the aero fire was considered a well-known type of weapon; it was made from the tail spike of a stingray. Already jagged along the edges by nature, with a formidable point at the end, it was considered in capable hands.
The natives of the Ellis Islands used shark teeth for more peaceful purposes. Securely attaching a sharp shark tooth to a stick, local "surgeons" used it as a scalpel when performing primitive operations.

The locals of New Zealand call the sevengill shark that lives in coastal waters the Tuatipi. In the old days, they used her teeth in the manufacture of a saw-like instrument of the world - tuatipi. It was believed that its only purpose was to cut human flesh. Maori have always associated sharks with war, blood and death. Mixing red henna with shark fat, they painted the resulting mixture of gravestones that were erected on the graves of great and prominent leaders, painted their war boats - canoes. Another area of ​​application of shark oil was cosmetics, they were lubricated with skin and hair. Shark fat was used to anoint the bodies of the dead during funeral ceremonies.

The inhabitants of some Pacific islands used shark skin, due to its strength, properties not to stretch, to make drums, which as a result had the right tone when struck. In Sumatra, tambourines and drums were made from the skin of the Sephen stingray.

The inhabitants of Bermuda use it as a very primitive but reliable barometer. It is made as follows: the oil from the liver and brain of the shark is placed in a bottle and tightly corked. When a storm approaches, the mass in the bottle becomes cloudy.

How to apply shark oil?

The American weather folklore collector Eric Sloan wrote an ad in the Weather Calendar that he found in an old Connecticut newspaper. The ad offered to buy "the perfect weather forecaster" for just one dollar. A certain magical liquid served as a predictor, cloudy before bad weather and rain. Sloan suggested that this magical concoction was shark oil. One of the book's authors kept a tightly closed bottle of shark oil on the window of his office. But according to the results of the experiment, he says that the contents of the bottle do become cloudy before the cold snap and brighten back when the weather improves and becomes warm, but he cannot swear for sure that shark oil is an accurate predictor of the weather. It was believed that this was caused by the usual solidification of fat. For example, if a bottle of fat is placed in the refrigerator, after an hour the fat turns into a mass of butter-like consistency.

When settling in Australia in 1788, it was believed that the use of shark oil in the room helps to expel the darkness that lurks danger from the houses. About Australia, David Collins wrote that nothing was wasted here, from everything, including sharks, they learned to benefit. Shark liver oil was sold by the shilling by the quart, and only a few houses used pleasant candle lighting.

Today, shark oil is used in a wide variety of industries, in the production of margarine, when stabbing high-quality steel, in leather dressing, in pharmacology, in the manufacture of various cosmetics and soaps, as a high-grade lubricant (for example, for lubricating a watch mechanism), in diluting oil colors. You can buy squalene as an additional extracted component in the processing of shark oil and the release of vitamin A from it. Especially popular squalene capsules, which you can find in our .

In Japan, not only shark skin is now being used, but also cartilage, from which shark amino or “elixir of life” is made. Gelatin glue is prepared from old, unsuitable for shagreen leather and cartilage; the pancreas of sharks becomes a source of insulin, for people with diabetes, and pancreatin, which improves the digestion process. From the liver - they melt fat, which is very useful due to the qualities of the constituent components, its product, squalene from Japan enjoys particular popularity.

The art of making shagreen

Examining modern shagreen, experts came to the conclusion that its quality level has significantly decreased, especially after the Second World War, the reason was the lack of high-quality rawhies, for example, in Japan there is not a single rawhide that would be engaged in dressing shark skin for cosmetic purposes. Wataru Shimizu, a professor at the University of Kyoto, believes that sword hilts should use the skin of aizame, a flat-nosed shark of the spiny shark family, this will allow the hand not to slip.

In Europe, the art of making shagreen from sharkskin began only when travelers in the 17th century began to bring various objects covered with shagreen from the East, including jewelry cases. Today, the art of making shagreen is almost completely forgotten and lost. By the 17th century, it had reached significant heights. In France, thanks to this craft, the names of two famous masters, Jean-Claude Galuche, as well as his son, Denis Claude, were immortalized. Their shagreen pieces were so remarkable that they got the name galuche, which is still preserved in France today for the highest quality of shagreen. In Holland, shagreen masters formed a guild called segrnywerkers.

Everything was made from galush: watch cases, cases for silverware, photo frames, writing instruments, very expensive books were bound into shagreen, cases for telescopes and microscopes were made from it. Quite often, antique dealers have no idea that shark skin can be so beautiful, supple, and pleasant to the touch, or they don't know what's in their hands. In our time, very often objects made of shagreen are given out as products made from the skin of a lizard, snake or seal.

So what is shagreen? This is the skin of a stingray or shark with interspersed plactoid scales. Shagreen is an amazingly beautiful thing. It is used mainly for decorating products, and it is impossible to make almost everything out of it. The sharp ends of the scales are ground down with a carborundum sharpener or polished by hand.

For many years, shagreen lovers and craftsmen have been interested in the question: how to remove placoid scales from the skin, and at the same time not damage the natural structure of shark skin? The roots of the scales go deep into the epidermis of the skin. Chemical preparations that were used in the manufacture of shagreen could not penetrate to the desired depth and melt the roots, and if the solution was taken in large quantities, it could completely destroy the skin. It was very difficult to process the skin so that it was not very rough or, on the contrary, fragile. Such skin could not be used for sale. A method was urgently needed to isolate the scales from the epidermis of the skin in such a way as to preserve its structure and make it both elastic and strong.

The skin of fish is covered with scales. It is different in its structure, shape and size of scales, mechanical and protective properties.

In sharks, the skin is covered with so-called plactoid scales. This name has Greek roots, and in translation means a plate, a plane in combination with the words "form", "view".

The scales cover the entire body of the shark, only the gill slits remain unprotected.

According to its structure, plactoid scales are skin denticles firmly seated in the body of a shark. The shark's plactoid scales remarkably resemble their teeth, both externally and in structure. Each such scale is covered with enamel on top and has a pulp canal in which loose tissue, a nerve and blood vessels are located.
Everything is like in a real tooth.

The enamel (vitrodentin) covering the plactoid scales is similar in composition to tooth enamel and gives strength to the scales. The size and shape of scales in sharks of different species may vary. Some of them are quite large, while others are difficult to see with the naked eye. The shape can be jagged, spade-shaped, spike-shaped, diamond-shaped, etc. The scales are attached to the skin with the help of a spike-leg, immersed deep under the skin of the shark. Only its upper plate rises above the surface of the skin, adjacent to the body of the predator towards the caudal fin.


The strength of the scales is very high. It is thanks to this property of the scales that the shark skin is a kind of armor that protects the body of predators from mechanical damage and the teeth of other predators. It is difficult even to pierce with a knife.

If you run your hand over the body of a shark in the direction from the tail to the head, you can seriously injure the skin of your palms on sharp and strong scales. No wonder the scales of sharks are also called the skin teeth of a predator.
On the body of sharks, you can sometimes find separate large scales, located, more often, apart from the rest. Bone formations, an example of which is the spiny katran, are also formed by modified scales.

The strength properties of the skin and skin of sharks have been noticed by man for a long time and have found practical application for them. Even in ancient times, shields of warriors were made from the skin of sharks and shagreen, they wrapped the handles of swords, later they began to make aprons for blacksmiths, sandpaper, known for its exceptional wear resistance.

Magnificent shagreen leather, which has a beautiful appearance, is well processed and durable, is used in the shoe industry and haberdashery. Shoes are sewn from it, durable belts and leather goods are made from it.
Shagreen (shark) skin is 10 times more durable than cowhide!

We are surrounded by extraordinary, fantastic things, and writers stubbornly tell us about unimportant, everyday events.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez

When tailoring outerwear, especially in exclusive designer models, along with traditional and large-scale types, the skins of rare exotic animals are also used. Such material is produced individually, in small batches, and things made from it are much more expensive than mass-produced goods. Sometimes the price of such a model exceeds the cost of a car or a country house. So what makes them so expensive, other than the fact that the material is exotic?

Skin of wild artiodactyls

The most common among exotic skins is the skin of wild artiodactyls such as deer, elk, and buffaloes. Due to the fact that the hunting of these animals is strictly limited, and in some places it is completely prohibited, their skin can be quite classified as exotic materials, although all animals are widely represented in our country.

Buckskin

When dressing deer skin, animal fat is used, which protects it from getting wet. The dressed leather is very thin and soft, has high strength and elasticity. It has the ability to retain its shape in conditions of rapid changes in humidity.

Elk skin

Elk skin is also quite soft, but has a more porous structure than deer skin. To the touch, this material is very delicate, silky, and products made from it are distinguished by elegance and durability. Elk skin is used to make suede, from which, in turn, not only jackets and raincoats are sewn, but also other products.

Elk leather product

buffalo leather

The thickest and strongest. The high density of this leather makes products from it almost immune to mechanical damage. True, the process of tailoring is too difficult, but things are strong and durable. These properties have become a prerequisite for the manufacture of the most expensive jackets for motorcyclists from buffalo leather.

reptile skin

Reptile skin has long been used in the manufacture of clothing, footwear and accessories. Due to its durability and water-repellent properties, it is highly valued in the world market, and its beauty has made it a desirable material for fashionistas and fashionistas around the world.

Crocodile skin

Crocodile skin products are especially loved among the “rich and famous”. This material is used for the manufacture of outerwear, shoes, haberdashery, accessories. Soft and elastic, it at the same time has high strength, which makes it almost eternal. Crocodile skin does not get wet even when in the pouring rain, it is impossible to get dirty.

Python skin

Python skin is the softest and smoothest. Its beauty has led to the fact that the cost of products made from this material is fabulously high. It lends itself well to dyeing, clothes from it can look fantastic.

fish skin

Fish skin, contrary to popular belief, is a fairly durable material. And the skin of certain fish species is several times stronger than many materials. Plastic, soft and dense - its value increases due to rarity, and the skin of fish becomes one step with the skin of reptiles and rare animals.

shark skin

Lightweight, flexible and very durable. Ten times more durable than calf or buffalo skin. Shark skin was used to make pilot jackets in the mid-twentieth century. In the literature, it is known as "shagreen leather". Before dressing, shark skin can reach a thickness of 10 cm, but after processing it acquires the required thickness without losing its strength.

Stingray leather

Incredibly strong and very difficult to process, stingray skin has become the greatest rarity. Due to its durability, it practically does not require any maintenance. It does not get wet, almost does not get dirty, it is ideal for making outerwear.

Bird skin

It is hard to believe, but designers even use the skin of birds to realize their boundless fantasies. Birdskin itself is thin and fragile enough to be used in the manufacture of outerwear. But there is one exception - the skin of an ostrich, which surpasses many types of leather in its qualities.

Ostrich skin

No other type of leather can even come close to ostrich skin in terms of its softness and elasticity. It is characterized by a very original pattern and sufficient strength. Due to the presence of natural oils in ostrich leather, it has water-repellent properties, which further increases its practicality.

In this article, we have listed only the most common species that are in great demand in the world market. There are many more exotic animals, the skin of which, in one form or another, is used in the production of clothing and haberdashery. Today, leather clothing is a kind of “must have” for people who follow fashion trends. The world's leading fashion designers present their "leather" collections every season. PurchasingLux keeps up with fashion. We have a large selection of original models for every taste, a good price and online fitting will help you decide. Happy shopping!