Understanding the structure and blemishes of Australian farmed saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) leather

Abstract

Australian saltwater crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus) are farmed to harvest their belly skin to produce high quality leather products. This is the first descriptive study to explore the structure of leather across different finishes; incrust, matte and gloss as well as variation within lesions. Using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and image analysis, the thickness across the belly skin leather and the differences in the gross surface were analysed. This study identified statistically significant differences between leather type, scale row down and side of the midline (p = 0.011), and leather type and the scale row down (p = 0.043). It also identified the differences in collagen arrangement in linear and foci lesions when compared to normal leather, and the impact at different depths of leather. This study noted a foci lesion with variation in the leather structure indicative of a pathogenic agent such as Kunjin strain of West Nile virus.