Relating to or characteristic of a gastrula, the early stage of an embryo shaped like a hollow ball with an indented side.
From gastrula (Modern Latin, from Greek gaster 'belly') plus -ar suffix meaning 'of or relating to.' The term was coined in the 1870s to describe this crucial developmental stage.
Every animal you see today—including you—was once a gastrular embryo! This stage is so fundamentally important that scientists can see the same basic gastrular structure across fish, frogs, chickens, and humans, revealing our shared evolutionary history.
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