this post was submitted on 28 Jan 2026
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Touch is a good option to distinguish between a jaguar and a shark in a dark room - jaguar is soft and shark is smooth. Easy. You'll never again confuse a jaguar with a shark.
Shark's only smooth from front to back. Otherwise shark's sandpaper.
Nope. Sharks are smooth as hell in all directions.
http://www.elasmo-research.org/education/white_shark/scales.htm
It’s telling me that shark skin is “smooth from all directions and at all times”
Are you reading the same thing I'm reading? Literally every search result describes shark skin as dermal denticles, or sharp tooth-like scales aligned from front to back, "relatively smooth" in one direction, and sandpaper-like in the other.
Apparently other animals regularly get injured brushing up against them.
Well, I'm touching a shark right now. Rubbing it every which way. No direction is off limits. It's smoother than the finest silks
But other question, is shark wet?
Presumably their skin doesn't absorb or hold water much, if at all. So shark is probably dry
No, sharks are smooth all over.
I remember when I went to an aquarium as a kid and touched the sting rays in the touch tank. That texture has stayed in my mind ever since. I still can't find anything it compares well to.
So ... what was it like ?
Like an eagle ray
Well stingrays are closely related to sharks, and sharks are smooth so....
You might enjoy a shagrin couch.