the.com/mucous membrane
The body's bouncer: lets air and food in, keeps germs stuck in goo.
means The moist, slippery tissue lining body passages open to the outside — like the nose, mouth, lungs, and gut — that secretes protective mucus.
from From Latin 'mucus' (slime, snot — related to 'mungere,' to blow or wipe the nose) plus 'membrana' (a thin skin or parchment, from 'membrum,' a body part, since parchment was once made from animal skins). Put together in anatomical Latin to name exactly what it sounds like: a membrane that makes mucus.
- total area
- about 400 square meters, mostly lungs
- daily output
- nose alone makes about a liter of mucus
- shared trait
- lines every tube open to the outside world
- defense trick
- traps microbes so cilia can sweep them out