Any measurable or observable characteristic related to the shape, structure, color, or pattern of the long, single-stranded filaments that form a dense web or mesh around the base of cochlear hair bundles just above the region in which the stereocilia begin to taper down.

in the mouse, ankle links are only a transient feature of the developing cochlear hair bundles, present predominantly from P2 though P9, but are absent by P12; ankle links are disrupted by treatment of hair cells with EGTA and subtilisin but not by La^3+ and elastase