Skeletal muscle, also called voluntary muscle, in vertebrates, most common of the three types of muscle in the body. Skeletal muscles are attached to bones by tendons, and they produce all the movements of body parts in relation to each other. Unlike smooth muscle and cardiac muscle, skeletal muscle is under voluntary control. Similar to cardiac muscle, however, skeletal muscle is striated; its long, thin, multinucleated fibres are crossed with a regular pattern of fine red and white lines, giving the muscle a distinctive appearance. Skeletal muscle fibres are bound together by connective tissue and communicate with nerves and blood vessels. For more information on the structure and function of skeletal muscle, see muscle and muscle system, human.

The striated muscle is also known as the skeletal muscle, because it is attached mainly to the bones and skin, and is responsible for the mobility of the body and limbs.

A band is the region of a striated muscle sarcomere that contains myosin thick filaments. In fact, the A band is the entire length of the thick filament of the sarcomere.

The I band is the region of a striated muscle sarcomere that contains thin filaments. Therefore, half of each I band belongs to one sarcomere, and the other half belongs to the neighboring sarcomere.

A myocyte is also known as a muscle cell. This type of cell found in muscle tissue. Myocytes are long, tubular cells that develop from myoblasts to form muscles in a process known as myogenesis.

Skeletal muscle fiber is surrounded by a plasma membrane called the sarcolemma, which contains sarcoplasm, the cytoplasm of muscle cells. A muscle fiber is composed of many fibrils, which give the cell its striated appearance. Each bundle of muscle fiber is called a fasciculus and is surrounded by a layer of connective tissue called the perimysium. Within the fasciculus, each individual muscle cell, called a muscle fiber, is surrounded by connective tissue called the endomysium.