Scrotum
ReproductiveSkinPelvis
Shown on the male body.
- What it is
- Pouch of thin, wrinkled, pigmented skin containing the dartos smooth muscle, divided by a midline raphe and septum into two compartments, each holding a testis, epididymis and the lower spermatic cord.
- Function
- Keeps the testes 2–3 °C below body temperature by wrinkling or relaxing (dartos) and by the cremaster muscle raising or lowering them.
- Size
- About 7 cm across and 8–10 cm tall.
- Clinical note
- The raphe marks where the two labioscrotal swellings fused in the embryo; their female counterpart is the labia majora.