fallopian tube

[fah-lo´pe-an]

a slender tube extending laterally from the uterus toward the ovary, one on each side, allowing passage of ova to the cavity of the uterus and of spermatozoa in the opposite direction. Called also uterine tube and oviduct.

When the mature ovum leaves the ovary it enters the fringed opening of the fallopian tube, through which it travels slowly to the uterus. When conception takes place, the tube is usually the site of fertilization. Obstruction or infection within the fallopian tubes is a major cause of infertility. The removal of one tube by surgery, or the failure of a tube to function, ordinarily leaves the other tube intact and able to perform its function in reproduction. Occasionally the fertilized ovum implants in the wall of the fallopian tube, resulting in an ectopic, or tubal pregnancy.

Fallopian tube. From McKinney et al., 2000.

gon·o·phore

, gonophorus (gon'ŏ-fōr, gō-nof'ŏ-rŭs),

Any structure serving to store up or conduct the sexual cells; oviduct, spermatic duct, uterus, or seminal vesicle; an accessory generative organ.

[G. gonē, seed, + phoros, bearing]

Farlex Partner Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012

gon·o·phore

, gonophorus (gon'ŏ-fōr, gō-nof'ŏr-ŭs)

Any structure serving to store up or conduct the sex cells; oviduct, spermatic duct, uterus, or seminal vesicle; an accessory generative organ.

[G. gonē, seed, + phoros, bearing]

Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing © Farlex 2012

gonophore

any structure bearing gonads but particularly the specialized polyp of colonial COELENTERATES which bears the gonads and is shaped like a sessile medusa -a form of GONOZOOID.

Collins Dictionary of Biology, 3rd ed. © W. G. Hale, V. A. Saunders, J. P. Margham 2005

Mentioned in

gonozooid

References in periodicals archive

Material studied: Salvador City, Farol da Barra, on rock outcrop, 18 m depth, 1.iii.1993, four colonies, 4 mm high, without gonophores [N 1836]; Northern Coast, Arembepe Beach, on external beach rock bank, 6-8 m depth, 15.xi.1995, eighteen colonies, up to 4 mm high, gonophores observed [N 1837]; Arembepe region, on coral-algal buildup, 37 m depth, 18.vi.1992, eleven colonies, 3-4 mm high, without gonophores [N 1838]; Guarajuba Beach, on coastal emergent reef wall, 6-8 m depth, 23.iv.1997, five colonies, 4 mm high, without gonophores [N 1839]; Praia do Forte Beach, on coastal emergent reef wall, 5-6 m depth, 25.iv.1997, twenty colonies, 3-4 mm high, without gonophores [N 1840].

Material studied: Todos os Santos Bay, Fontes Island, on Eudendrium carneum, 1-2 m depth, 3.vi.1995, four colonies, 4-5 mm high, without gonophores [N 1827]; Northern Coast, Arembepe region, 50 m depth, 20.ix.1995, eight colonies, 6 mm high, gonophores observed [N 1828]; 25 m depth, 20.xii.1992, eighteen colonies, 5-6 mm high, gonophores observed IN 1829]; 42 m depth, 24.ix.1996, twenty colonies, 5-6 mm high, gonophores observed [N 1830]; Northern Coast, Itacimirim Beach, on shallow bank reef, 15 m depth, 20.iv.1996, fifteen colonies, 10-12 mm high, without gonophores [N 1831]; Praia do Forte Beach, on coastal emergent reef wall, 5-6 m depth, 25.iv.1997, twenty three colonies, up to 12 mm high, without gonophores [N 1832].

Shallow-water Campanulariidae (Hydrozoa, Leptothecatae) from Northern Bahia, Brazil

After the actinula larvae were released from the maternal gonophores, their behavior and morphogenesis were observed on either clean or microbial-filmed glass petri dishes under a stereoscopic microscope.

Larval behavioral, morphological changes, and nematocyte dynamics during settlement of actinulae of Tubularia mesembryanthemum, Allman 1871 (Hydrozoa: Tubulariidae)