THE armour of a coelacanth has a remarkable structure that may help explain how these fish have dodged extinction and lasted for hundreds of millions of years.
Robert Ritchie at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California and his colleagues examined coelacanth scales and found a surprisingly complex inner structure. Beneath a tough mineral layer are bundles of collagen in a twisted structure similar to a spiral staircase.
When pressure is applied to the scales, such as during a bite, the bundles absorb energy. The team also found fibres between these bundles that help stop the spread of cracks in the mineral layer (Advanced Functional Materials, ).
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This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淪uper armour helps coelacanths endure鈥�