What are the differences/similarities between skeletal and cardiac muscle?

Question

What about mitochondria content, interceleated discs?

Answer 1

For one thing, skeletal muscles fall under voluntary control while cardiac muscle are alway involutarily controlled (ie we can't stop our heart just by conciously thinking it but we can force ourselves to flex our biceps).  The general shape of skeletal muscles is elongated and narrow while cardiac muscles are more circular than elongated.

Answer 2

They are both striated.  Skeletal Muscle Structure: The cells of skeletal muscles are long fiber-like structures. They contain many nuclei and are subdivided into smaller structures called myofibrils. Myofibrils are composed of 2 kinds of myofilaments. The thin filaments are made of 2 strands of the protein actin and one strand of a regulatory protein coiled together. The thick filaments are staggered arrays of myosin molecules.

Units of organization of skeletal muscle. The filaments are organized into structures called sarcomeres. Sarcomeres are constructed in the following manner:

Z lines are at the borders of the sarcomere. They align in adjacent myofibrils.

I bands are areas near the edge of the sarcomere containing only thin filaments.

A bands are regions where thick and thin filaments overlap and correspond to the length of the thick filaments.

H zones are areas in the center of the A bands containing only thick filaments.

Cardiac Muscle in vertebrates is only found in the heart. It is striated as mentioned before.  Differences: The muscles cells are branched, and the junctions between the cells contain intercalated discs that electrically connects all heart muscle cells, allowing coordinated action. Cells can also generate their own action potential.