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November 18, 2016

Strange But True!

Q. Olympic swimmers shave their bodies for top speed, while swordfish use an altogether different trick. Got a “heads-up” on this one?

A. A new study suggests that swordfish grease their heads, says Laurel Hamers in Science News magazine. This puts streamlined swordfish (“Xiphias gladius”) up among the fastest fish in the ocean at about 56 mph. A newly discovered oil-producing organ tucked just behind the rapier-like bill of the swordfish creates a thin layer of lubrication on the skin's surface. Scientists from the Netherlands and Germany suspect that such lubrication combined with tiny scale-like structures called denticles work together “to make a water-repelling surface that lets swordfish glide through the water with minimal drag” (Journal of Experimental Biology).


 
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