The blastula (from Greek βλαστός (blastos), meaning "sprout") is a hollow sphere of cell

Cell (biology)

The cell is the basic structural and functional unit of all known living organisms. It is the smallest unit of life that is classified as a living thing, and is often called the building block of life. The Alberts text discusses how the "cellular building blocks" move to shape developing embryos....

s formed during an early stage of embryonic development in animals . The blastula is created when the zygote

Zygote

A zygote , or zygocyte, is the initial cell formed when two gamete cells are joined by means of sexual reproduction. In multicellular organisms, it is the earliest developmental stage of the embryo...

 undergoes the cell division

Cell division

Cell division is the process by which a parent cell divides into two or more daughter cells . Cell division is usually a small segment of a larger cell cycle. This type of cell division in eukaryotes is known as mitosis, and leaves the daughter cell capable of dividing again. The corresponding sort...

 process known as cleavage

Cleavage (embryo)

In embryology, cleavage is the division of cells in the early embryo. The zygotes of many species undergo rapid cell cycles with no significant growth, producing a cluster of cells the same size as the original zygote. The different cells derived from cleavage are called blastomeres and form a...

. The blastula is preceded by the morula

Morula

A morula is an embryo at an early stage of embryonic development, consisting of cells in a solid ball contained within the zona pellucida....

 and is followed by the gastrula in the developmental sequence.

A common feature of a vertebrate

Vertebrate

Vertebrates are animals that are members of the subphylum Vertebrata . Vertebrates are the largest group of chordates, with currently about 58,000 species described. Vertebrates include the jawless fishes, bony fishes, sharks and rays, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds...

 blastula is that it consists of a layer of blastomeres, known as the blastoderm

Blastoderm

-In amniotes:A blastoderm is the layer of cells formed at one pole of macrolecithal eggs such as the yolky egg of birds. The yolk prevents the division from taking place through the egg, resulting in meroblastic cleavage during the many cleavage divisions...

, which surrounds an interior central cavity known as the blastocoel.
In mammal

Mammal

Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...

s, blastulation leads to the formation of the blastocyst

Blastocyst

The blastocyst is a structure formed in the early embryogenesis of mammals, after the formation of the morula. It is a specifically mammalian example of a blastula. It possesses an inner cell mass , or embryoblast, which subsequently forms the embryo, and an outer layer of cells, or trophoblast,...

, which must not be confused with the blastula. The blastocyst contains an embryoblast, which is homologous to the blastula. However, it also includes the trophoblast

Trophoblast

Trophoblasts are cells forming the outer layer of a blastocyst, which provide nutrients to the embryo and develop into a large part of the placenta. They are formed during the first stage of pregnancy and are the first cells to differentiate from the fertilized egg...

, which goes on to form the extraembryonic tissues.