Definition of coelom in English:
coelom
nounPlural coelomata, Plural coelomsˈsiːləmˈsēləm
Zoology The principal body cavity in most animals, located between the intestinal canal and the body wall.
Example sentencesExamples
- The coelom extends into the rays, where the gonads are located.
- The ophiuroid coelom is strongly reduced, particularly in comparison to other echinoderms.
- Flatworms are unsegmented, bilaterally symmetrical worms that lack a coelom but that do have three germ layers.
- In mellitids, the intestine is separated from the rest of the coelom by a well-defined wall of the peripheral ballast system.
- Except in leeches, the coelom is partially subdivided by septa.
Derivatives
noun & adjective
Zoology This animal would have to be relatively large since the coelomate condition cannot have evolved in a tiny animal.
Example sentencesExamples
- Such a radical change in the mitochondrial gene arrangement within a closely related taxon has never been observed in other coelomate phyla.
- They first evolved in the earlier Cambrian period, as part of the great radiation of coelomate animals that occurred at that time.
- The genes have an arrangement relatable to those of coelomate metazoans, but not to those of secernentean nematodes.
- Schizocoelous mesoderm formation in coelomate spiralians also makes use of individual cell immigration during its early phase.
adjectivesəˈlɒmɪk
Zoology A number of other volatile, low molecular mass compounds were found in the coelomic fluid of these and other nereid species and thought to play a role in their reproduction.
Example sentencesExamples
- The soft parts in the axial canal of the stem consist of nerve cords, coelomic cavities, and associated organs which require more metabolic maintenance.
- The reproductive system is composed of a single saccular gonad in a coelomic pouch lying dorsal to the digestive system.
- Embryonic coelomic structures have specific fates as the bilaterally symmetrical larvae metamorphose into radially symmetric adults.
- These characters would have facilitated volume changes of the coelomic cavity due to dorso-ventral rotation of the ‘synsacrum’ on the dorsal vertebrae.
Origin
Late 19th century: from Greek koilōma 'cavity'.