cardiac muscle is structurally similar to skeletal muscle
however:
there are some important anatomic and physiological distinctions that account for the different behaviour of cardiac and skeletal muscles
cardiac muscle fibre structure:
shorter and fatter than skeletal muscle fibres
it is branched, so one cardiac muscle fibre will branch and connect with its neighbouring cardiac muscle fibre - this occurs throughout the whole of the atria and the ventricles, so all cells are interconnected
intercalated disc - a modified/thickened version of sarcolemma, located at the end of each cardiac muscle fibre
within the intercalated disc are desmosomes and gap junctions
