holoblastic

[ hol-uh-blas-tik, hoh-luh- ]

adjective

, Embryology.

1. (of certain eggs) undergoing total cleavage, resulting in equal blastomeres.

holoblastic

/ ˌhɒləˈblæstɪk /

adjective

1. embryol of or showing cleavage of the entire zygote into blastomeres, as in eggs with little yolk Compare meroblastic

Derived Forms

• ˌholoˈblastically, adverb

Other Words From

• holo·blasti·cal·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of holoblastic¹

1870–75; holoblast ( holo- + -blast ) + -ic

Example Sentences

Holoblastic, hol-o-blas′tik, adj. undergoing segmentation throughout the entire mass, as the ova of mammals.

From Project Gutenberg

Broadly speaking, they fall first into two groups: the older cyclostoma, the earliest fishes, most of the amphibia, and the viviparous mammals, have holoblastic ova—that is to say, ova with total, unequal segmentation; while the younger cyclostoma, most of the fishes, the cephalopods, reptiles, birds, and monotremes, have meroblastic ova, or ova with partial discoid segmentation.

From Project Gutenberg

Although the mass of the food-yelk may be very large in the ova of the discoblastic vertebrates, nevertheless in every case a blastula is developed from the morula, as in the holoblastic ova.

From Project Gutenberg