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Published online 10 March 2000 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news000316-2
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Soft, strong and very very wide
It has been claimed that chewing clams with cartilaginous jaws must be like felling a tree with a custard-filled sock. But, as Henry Gee explains, a custard-filled sock -- if expertly wielded -- can deliver a crushing bite.
Because we are bony, we tend to dismiss soft, squishy cartilage as an inferior imitation. Many fishes, notably sharks and rays, have skeletons made almost entirely of cartilage, and they manage very well.
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