Egg Cell
An egg cell is a cell found in female animals which is essential for producing offspring. It provides half of the genetic information needed to make another of the species and needs to be fertilized by a male sex cell to produce offspring.
This illustration shows the different parts of the egg cell:
What is the job of the egg cell?
Egg cells are the female sex cells – also known as gametes. It’s the job of the female egg cell to connect with the male sperm cell to become fertilized and produce offspring.
In the illustration below, you can see how the sperm must connect with the egg cell to
What is the name of egg cells?
Egg cells can be referred to as ‘ova’ or ‘ovum’ when talking about one egg cell.
They are also known as female gametes. The male gamete is called the sperm.
Where is the egg cell found?
Human egg cells are stored in the ovaries, connected by the fallopian tubes to the uterus. It is believed that when a woman is born, she stores every egg she will release in her lifetime. When an egg cell is released by one of the ovaries, it travels along the fallopian tube and into the uterus.
What is an egg cell made of?
Normal body cells contain all the genetic information they need, but sperm and egg cells contain only half each; this means that children’s genetic information is made up of 50% from each parent. This information is included in the nucleus.
What are egg cell adaptations?
Egg cells adapt in specific ways to help increase the chance of becoming fertilized and to support the development of an embryo (the early stage of growth once the egg is fertilized).
Egg cells adapt by:
- changing the cell membrane through chemical reaction once it has been fertilized so that no more sperm can enter the egg;
- providing nutrients in the cytoplasm which support the embryo as it develops;
- Being large makes it more likely that the sperm will fertilize them so that there is more space for storing nutrients inside the cell.
What happens to egg cells during the menstrual cycle?
On days 6 – 13 of the menstrual cycle, the lining of the uterus thickens to be ready to receive an egg. The egg will start to ripen on day 12.
On day 14, the ripe egg is released from an ovary; this is called ovulation. You can see this happening in the diagram below – the egg cell is colored yellow.
Between days 15 – 28, if the egg cell isn’t fertilized, the lining of the uterus will stop developing and be shed from the body in a period.
