Image: Wikimedia Commons

blastula

Sphere of cells formed during early embryonic development in animals

Entityembryogenesis class of anatomical entity embryonic stageQ420811

Also known as blastosphere

Instance of: embryogenesis
, class of anatomical entity
, embryonic stage
Subclass of: embryo
, particular anatomical entity

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

Blastulation is the stage in early animal embryonic development that produces the blastula. In mammalian development, a blastula develops into the blastocyst with a differentiated inner cell mass and an outer trophectoderm. The blastula is a hollow sphere of cells known as blastomeres surrounding an inner fluid-filled cavity called the blastocoel. Embryonic development begins with a sperm fertilizing an egg cell to become a zygote, which undergoes many cleavages to develop into a ball of cells called a morula. Only when the blastocoel is formed does the early embryo become a blastula. The blastula precedes the formation of the gastrula in which the germ layers of the embryo form.

Overview

All data

34 statements · 18% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

Has effect: gastrulation
Followed by: gastrula
Follows: morula
Cause: blastulation

On other databases

26 identifiers linking blastula across the web's reference databases

Data quality

statements

18%

externally sourced

Source last edited October 16, 2026. AIDB refreshes this page daily.

Suggest a fact or correction

Links

Use this data

curl https://aidb.si/api/v1/entities/Q420811

API docs, limits & keys

Cite this page

AIDB. (2026). blastula (Q420811). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/blastula-Q420811