urethra
The fibromuscular tubular canal through which urine is discharged from the bladder to the exterior via the external urinary meatus; in males, the urethra is joined by the ejaculatory ducts and serves as a passageway for semen during ejaculation, as well as a canal for urine during voiding; in females, the urethra is shorter and emerges above the vaginal opening. Every claim on this page comes from the Leumas anatomy graph and carries its source.
What the urethra is
The fibromuscular tubular canal through which urine is discharged from the bladder to the exterior via the external urinary meatus; in males, the urethra is joined by the ejaculatory ducts and serves as a passageway for semen during ejaculation, as well as a canal for urine during voiding; in females, the urethra is shorter and emerges above the vaginal opening. The atlas records it as a organ at the organ scale in the human body.
Where the urethra is
It sits within the urinary system. Positioned deliberately as part of this species body plan.
What the urethra connects to
The atlas records 28 typed relationships for it, across 10 kinds of connection. part of lower urinary tract.
Supply and innervation
Arterial supply: urethral artery. Venous drainage: urethral vein.
Source
Uberon multi-species anatomy ontology (Mungall et al.), CC BY 4.0. Term UBERON:0000057, version 2026-06-19, retrieved 2026-08-24. Licence: CC-BY-4.0.
- Part of: lower urinary tract.
- A kind of: anatomical conduit, anatomical structure and organ.
- contains: epithelium of urethra, external urethral sphincter, internal urethral orifice, internal urethral sphincter, lamina propria of urethra and lumen of urethra, and 9 more.
- subtype: female urethra and male urethra.
- contributes to morphology of: urethral crest and urethral gland.
- Continuous with: urinary bladder.
- surrounded by: corpus spongiosum of penis.
- Supplied by: urethral artery.
Questions
Where is the urethra?
It sits within the urinary system. Positioned deliberately as part of this species body plan.
What does the urethra connect to?
Part of: lower urinary tract.
Is the urethra 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.