THE shortfin mako shark’s petrifying ability to slice through the ocean at up to 80 kilometres an hour relies on a trick of its scaly skin. The scales can reduce drag by bristling to create tiny wells across the skin’s surface – just like the dimples on a golf ball.
Grooves on the 200-micrometre-long enamel scales of the fast-swimming shark are known to reduce drag slightly even when lying flat. Because the indentations on a golf ball reduce drag as it moves through the air, Amy Lang and her team at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa tested whether a similar…
