coelom

American  

[see-luhm] / ˈsi ləm /

Or coelome

noun

Zoology.

coeloms, plural coelomata plural

1. the body cavity of higher metazoans, between the body wall and intestine, lined with a mesodermal epithelium.

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coelom British  

/ -ləm, sɪˈlɒmɪk, ˈsiːləʊm /

noun

1. the body cavity of many multicellular animals, situated in the mesoderm and containing the digestive tract and other visceral organs

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coelom Scientific  

/ sē′ləm /

1. The body cavity that forms from the mesoderm during the embryonic development of more complex animals. The coelom suspends the gut in fluid in the middle of the body, protecting it from gravity and allowing great increases in body size. The presence or absence of a coelom is important for the classification of animal phyla.

2. See more at deuterostome protostome

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• coelomic
  adjective

Inflected Forms

noun

• coelomata
  plural
• coeloms
  plural

Etymology

Origin of coelom

1875–80; < Greek koílōma cavity, equivalent to koilō-, variant stem of koiloûn to hollow out (verbal derivative of koîlos hollow) + -ma noun suffix denoting result

Example Sentences

Coelom, Gonads and Excretory Organs.—These are closely similar in their relations to those of the Neomeniomorpha.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 2 "Chicago, University of" to "Chiton" by Various

III and IV, Coelom of the third and fourth somites.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 6 "Armour Plates" to "Arundel, Earls of" by Various

On the strength of these and other studies, as well as most extensive research of their own, the brothers Oscar and Richard Hertwig constructed in 1881 the Coelom Theory.

From The Evolution of Man — Volume 1 by Haeckel, Ernst Heinrich Philipp August

Coelom of the first, second, third and fourth somites.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 6 "Armour Plates" to "Arundel, Earls of" by Various

Coelom generally reduced to a system of tubes, sometimes communicating with vascular system; in Acanthobdella and Ozobranchus a series of metamerically arranged chambers as in Oligochaeta.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 7 "Cerargyrite" to "Charing Cross" by Various