In flies, as in humans, the sperm cell spermatozoon is made up of the cell body proper, also referred to as the sperm "head," and the flagellum. The flagellum, also called the sperm "tail," is a slender lash-like appendage that protrudes from the cell body. By beating their tails, sperm cells swim to the female reproductive cell oocyte and fertilise it. A bundle of microtubules that span the entire length of the tail is critical for flagellar beating. These microtubules are arranged in a characteristic radial symmetry that has been conserved throughout evolution and is templated by a small organelle called the basal body, which sits at the base of the flagellum.

Sperm Morphology (Size and Shape)



Epididyme | anatomy | Britannica
March 29, Fertility issues can arise for men if there are problems with the number, shape, or movement of sperm. These glitches can make it hard for the sperm to fertilize an egg. Once inside the female reproductive tract, sperm use their tail-like appendages to swim for the egg. Tail movements become stronger and able to generate more swimming force.


Reproduction in Animals Class 8 Extra Questions Science Chapter 9
Sperm is the male gamete or the reproductive cell of a male. The sperm cell has a function similar to a seed, which is giving rise to a new similar organism. Usually, the sperm cells of animals are motile and sperm cells of plants are non-motile but there are some ferns that have motile sperms. The human sperm cell contains only 23 chromosomes which means that it is haploid. The sperm cells are formed in the seminiferous tubules of the male testes.



An average man releases about 50 million sperm each time he ejaculates. So to maximise the chance of fertilising an egg, men produce and ejaculate many more sperm than are actually needed. A danger of producing such high numbers of sperm is that many of them are poorly made. In a typical ejaculate, many sperm are abnormal in shape or do not swim properly. To understand why this is the case, the following pages will take a closer look at the structure of sperm and explain why they are made in the way that they are.