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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Apr 27, 2026

Dissection and Flat-mounting of the Threespine Stickleback Branchial Skeleton

Dissection and Flat-mounting of the Threespine Stickleback Branchial Skeleton

Published on: May 7, 2016

Hierarchical, self-similar structure in native squid pen.

Fei-Chi Yang¹, Robert D Peters, Hannah Dies

¹Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada. rheinstadter@mcmaster.ca.

|June 25, 2014

Summary

Squid gladius exhibits a hierarchical structure across multiple scales, from millimeters to nanometers. This self-similar organization reveals aligned chitin and protein molecules, crucial for the material's properties.

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Characterization Of Multi-layered Fish Scales Atractosteus spatula Using Nanoindentation, X-ray CT, FTIR, and SEM

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Published on: July 10, 2014

Area of Science:

Materials Science
Biomaterials
Structural Biology

Background:

The squid gladius (pen) is a complex biological composite material.
Understanding its hierarchical structure is key to biomimetic material design.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the multi-scale structural organization of the native squid gladius.
To correlate macroscale structural features with molecular orientation.

Main Methods:

Combined optical microscopy, Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), and X-ray diffraction.
Probed structural features from millimeter down to nanometer length scales.

Main Results:

Identified a hierarchical, self-similar fibrous structure in squid gladius.
Observed β-chitin nano-fibrils (150 × 300 Å) composed of chitin crystallites and α-coil proteins.
Determined high molecular anisotropy, with ~90% of molecules aligned along the fibre axis.

Conclusions:

The squid gladius possesses a highly organized hierarchical structure.
Strong correlation exists between the macroscale fibre orientation and molecular alignment.
Findings offer insights for designing advanced biomimetic materials.