mesonephros

n.
The second of the three excretory organs that develop in a vertebrate embryo, becoming the functioning kidney in fish and amphibians but replaced by the metanephros in higher vertebrates. Also called Wolffian body.

[MESO- + Greek nephros, kidney.]

mesonephric mes'o·neph'ric adj.

n

The second type of excretory organ to develop in the vertebrate embryo. The organ is the permanent kidney in lower animals, but in humans and various other mammals it is functional only during early embryonic development.

(mĕz'ə-nĕf'rəs, -rŏs', mĕs'-)
n., pl. -neph·roi (-nĕf'roi').

The second of the three excretory organs that develop in a vertebrate embryo, replaced by the metanephros in higher vertebrates. Also called wolffian body.

mes'o·neph'ric adj.

Pl. mesonephroi [Gr.] the excretory organ of the embryo, arising caudal to the pronephros and using its duct. Displaced by the metanephros which becomes the kidney of the postnatal animal.