central retinal vein

The central retinal vein (retinal vein) is a short vein that runs through the optic nerve and drains blood from the capillaries of the retina into the larger veins outside the eye. The anatomy of the veins of the orbit of the eye varies between individuals, and in some the central retinal vein drains into the superior ophthalmic vein, and in some it drains directly into the cavernous sinus. [WP,unvetted]. Every claim on this page comes from the Leumas anatomy graph and carries its source.

What the central retinal vein is

The central retinal vein (retinal vein) is a short vein that runs through the optic nerve and drains blood from the capillaries of the retina into the larger veins outside the eye. The anatomy of the veins of the orbit of the eye varies between individuals, and in some the central retinal vein drains into the superior ophthalmic vein, and in some it drains directly into the cavernous sinus. [WP,unvetted]. The atlas records it as a vein at the organ scale in the human body.

Where the central retinal vein is

It sits in the head, within the cardiovascular and sensory systems. Not positioned individually. Drawn inside the structure this dataset says contains it — the containment is asserted, the exact spot within it is not.

What the central retinal vein connects to

The atlas records 12 typed relationships for it, across 4 kinds of connection. part of blood vasculature, camera-type eye and craniocervical region, and 3 more.

Supply and innervation

Venous drainage: cavernous sinus, venous dural sinus and tributary of central retinal vein.

Also called

Also recorded as retinal vein and vena centralis retinae. Searching any of those names reaches this page.

Source

Uberon multi-species anatomy ontology (Mungall et al.), CC BY 4.0. Term UBERON:0001673, version 2026-06-19, retrieved 2026-08-24. Licence: CC-BY-4.0.

Part of: blood vasculature, camera-type eye, craniocervical region, head, systemic venous system and vasculature of head.
A kind of: blood vessel and systemic vein.
Drains: retina.
drains to: cavernous sinus, venous dural sinus and tributary of central retinal vein.

Questions

Where is the central retinal vein?

What does the central retinal vein connect to?

Part of: blood vasculature, camera-type eye, craniocervical region, head, systemic venous system and vasculature of head.

Is the central retinal vein the same in other species?

Leumas holds the same relationship vocabulary for every species it carries, so where another dataset records this structure you can put the two side by side on /compare.