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Friction-Reducing Sandfish Skin

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Encyclopedia of Nanotechnology

Synonyms

Officinal skink; Sand skink; Scincus officinalis ; Scincus scincus

Definition

The sandfish (Scincus scincus) is a lizard having the remarkable ability to move in desert sand in a swimming-like fashion over significant distances at remarkable velocities up to about 300 mm s−1 when submerged in sand. It is well adapted through evolution to live in loose aeolian sand by different morphological, physiological, and behavioral features. The skin of the sandfish exhibits a very small friction coefficient for sand and high abrasion resistance.

Biological Background

The scincid lizard genus Scincus [1], a group within the order Squamata, is distributed over the huge desert belt ranging from the African west coast (Morocco to Senegal) through the Sahara and the Arabian Peninsula into Jordan, Iraq, and SW Iran [1–3]. The sandfish Scincus scincus [1] (Fig. 1) is known for its ability to move through desert sand very fast, as if it were swimming [1–6]. This is in contrast to other desert...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Johannes Kepler University, Linz, Austria

    Werner Baumgartner

Authors
  1. Werner Baumgartner
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Werner Baumgartner .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Biomimetics (NLB²), Ohio State University Nanoprobe Lab. for Bio- & Nanotechnology, Columbus, Ohio, USA

    Bharat Bhushan

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Baumgartner, W. (2015). Friction-Reducing Sandfish Skin. In: Bhushan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Nanotechnology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6178-0_258-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6178-0_258-2

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  • Online ISBN: 978-94-007-6178-0

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