The bilaterally paired slender tubes, 3-4 inches in length (see first figure below), that allow for the egg to travel from the paired ovaries to the uterus during the menstrual cycle by means of muscular and wave-like ciliary action, with cilia covering the epithelium that lines the tubes. While fertilisation normally takes place in the tubes, if a fertilised ovum implants in a tube, or another area outside the uterus (e.g., abdomen, cervix), perhaps to due failure of the tubal cilia to perform their work, then an ectopic pregnancy occurs (see other figure below), which can lead to complications such as hemorrhaging. Named after the anatomist and their discoverer Gabriele Falloppio or Fallopius (1523-1562). Also known as the uterine tube, it is part of the Müllerian ducts in vertebrates.
