When people think about sharks, teeth are usually the first thing that comes to mind. It is not, after all, shark skin that inspired “Shark Week.” However, 450 million years of successful hunting in the world’s oceans has required more than big teeth. Every part of a shark’s body is specially adapted to its task.

The rough, razor sharp surface of a shark’s skin reduces the drag of the water. This allows the shark to swim faster while reducing the energy costs. While there’s very little reason for humans to want shark teeth, new research published in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology by a team at Harvard has found that shark’s skin can be replicated and, eventually, put to work for people.

Shark skin is made up of microscopic tooth-like scales called “denticles.” After acquiring a sample of mako shark skin, Harvard’s George Lauder, Li Wen and James Weaver took a microscopic look at one representative denticle. They then replicated that image to build a computer model of the shark’s skin.

The fact that the tentacles overlapped created a considerable challenge to reproducing the skin, even with a 3D printer. The team spent a year testing different materials, printing protocols and in the end enlarged the denticles and increased the spacing. Finally, they were able to produce a working sample which they attached to both sides of a piece of flexible foil.

The team found that when the artificial shark skin was still it reduced the drag of the water on the foil by 8.7 percent at low flow speeds, however at high flow speeds the skin produced 15 percent more drag. Next the team moved the skin, flapping it like a fish moves through water. With the added movement the foil’s simulated swimming speed increased by 6.6 percent, while energy was reduced by 5.9 percent.

“This is the first time that anyone has measured the energetic cost of shark skin and the reduction in swimming cost relative to a smooth surface,” said Lauder in a statement.

According to Laudner the next step will be testing different arrangements of the tentacles. While simulated shark skin won’t be available for consumer applications anytime soon, imitating one of the history’s greatest swimmers may one day improve our own ability to move in the water.