Body cavities
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- Work cat.: 96-152825: Intl. Symp. on "Body Cavities" (1994 : Varese, Italy). Body cavities, 1995.
- Chambers biology dict., 1989(body cavity: perivisceral space in which viscera lie)
- Henderson's dict. of biol. terms, c1995(body cavity: internal cavity in many animals in which various organs are suspended)
- Facts on file dict. of biology, c1988(body cavity: in most metazoans, cavity bounded by the body wall ...; body cavity of arthropods is haemocoel, body cavity of many triploblastic animals is the coelom)
- Thain, M. Penguin dict. of biology, 1994(body cavity: primary body cavity, see blastocoel; secondary body cavity, see coelom)
- Web. 3(body cavity: a cavity within an animal body)
- Dorland's med. dict.)(cavity: a hollow place or space, or a potential space, within the body)
A body cavity is any space or compartment, or potential space, in an animal body. Cavities accommodate organs and other structures; cavities as potential spaces contain fluid. The two largest human body cavities are the ventral body cavity, and the dorsal body cavity. In the dorsal body cavity the brain and spinal cord are located. The membranes that surround the central nervous system organs (the brain and the spinal cord, in the cranial and spinal cavities) are the three meninges. The differently lined spaces contain different types of fluid. In the meninges for example the fluid is cerebrospinal fluid; in the abdominal cavity the fluid contained in the peritoneum is a serous fluid. In amniotes and some invertebrates the peritoneum lines their largest body cavity called the coelom.
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