| Mesonephros | |
|---|---|
 Reconstruction of a human embryo of 17 mm. (Label for Mesonephros is at center right.) | |
| Details | |
| Carnegie stage | 14 |
| Days | 22 |
| Precursor | Pronephros |
| Gives rise to | Kidney |
| Identifiers | |
| Latin | mesonephros |
| MeSH | D008650 |
| TE | E5.6.2.0.0.0.1 |
| FMA | 72171 |
| Anatomical terminology | |
The mesonephros (Greek: middle kidney) is one of three excretory organs that develop in vertebrates. It serves as the main excretory organ of aquatic vertebrates and as a temporary kidney in reptiles, birds, and mammals. The mesonephros is included in the Wolffian body after Caspar Friedrich Wolff who described it in 1759. (The Wolffian body is composed of: mesonephros + paramesonephrotic blastema)