Seminal vesicle at a glance
- What it is
- The seminal vesicles are paired glands that produce much of the fluid of semen.
- Location
- They lie behind the bladder and in front of the rectum, above the prostate.
- Function
- They secrete an alkaline, fructose-rich fluid that nourishes sperm, making up about 60 to 70 percent of semen volume.
- Body system
- Reproductive · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA19388 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Their ducts join the deferent ducts to form the ejaculatory ducts.
- Each is a coiled tube about 5 cm long (much longer when uncoiled) lying lateral to the ampulla of the deferent duct.
- It is separated from the rectum by the rectoprostatic (Denonvilliers) fascia.
Structures next to the seminal vesicle
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Pubococcygeus · muscular
- Puborectalis · muscular
- Calcaneal branches of posterior tibial artery · cardiovascular
- Rectum · digestive
- Prostate · reproductive
- Urinary bladder · urinary
- Obturator vein · cardiovascular
- Coccygeus · muscular
- Skin · skin
- Obturator internus · muscular
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Seminal vesicle (FMA19388). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
- OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §27.1 Anatomy and Physiology of the Testicular Reproductive System. Rice University, 2022.
- Mitsuhashi N. et al. (2009). BodyParts3D: 3D structure database for anatomical concepts. Nucleic Acids Research 37, D782–D785. Data © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0.
Related anatomy
Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.