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Oviducts


In vertebrates, other than mammals, the passageway from the ovaries to the outside of the body is known as the oviduct. In female mammals this passageway is known as the uterine tube or Fallopian tube. The eggs travel along the oviduct. These eggs will either be fertilized by sperm to become a zygote, or will degenerate in the body. Normally, these are paired structures, but in birds and some cartilaginous fishes, one or the other side fails to develop (together with the corresponding ovary), and only one functional oviduct is found.

Except in teleosts, the oviduct does not directly contact the ovary. Instead, the most anterior portion ends in a funnel-shaped structure called the infundibulum, which collects eggs as they are released by the ovary into the body cavity.

The only female vertebrates to lack oviducts are the jawless fishes. In these species, the single fused ovary releases eggs directly into the body cavity. The fish eventually extrudes the eggs through small genital pores towards the rear of the body.

In amphibians and lungfishes, the oviduct is a simple ciliated tube, lined with mucus-secreting glands that produce the jelly that surrouns the ovum. In all other vertebrates, there is normally some degree of specialisation of the tube, depending on the type of eggs produced.

In cartilaginous fishes, the middle portion of the tube develops as a shell gland. The first portion of this gland secretes the egg white, while the lower portion secretes a hard, horny, capsule to protect the developing egg. Below the shell gland is the ovisac, a distended region in which eggs are stored prior to laying. In ovoviviparous species, the egg remains within the ovisac until it hatches. Some cartilaginous fishes, however, are truly viviparous, giving birth to live young, and producing no egg shell. In these forms, the ovisac nurtures the developing embryo, often with the aid of vascular outgrowths similar to, but much simpler than, the mammalian placenta.


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