A typical ovary is a flattened oval about 5 cm in length, 2.5 cm in width, and 8 mm in thickness and weighs 68 g (roughly 0.25 oz).

An ovary is pink or yellowish and has a nodular consistency. The visceral peritoneum, orgerminal epithelium , covering the surface of each ovary consists of a layer of columnar epithelial cells that overlies a dense connectivetissue layer called the tunica albuginea . We can divide the interior tissues, orstroma , of the ovary into a superficial cortex and a deeper medulla. Gametes are produced in the cortex. Oogenesis Ovum production, or oogenesis begins before a woman's birth, accelerates at puberty, and ends at menopause Between puberty and menopause, oogenesis occurs on a monthly basis as part of the ovarian cycle . Unlike spermatogonia, the oogonia, or stem cells of females, complete their mitotic divisions before birth. Between the third and seventh months of fetal development, the daughter cells, or primary oocytes , prepare to undergo meiosis. They proceed as far as the prophase of meiosis I, but at that time the process comes to a halt. The primary oocytes then remain in a state of suspended development until the individual reaches puberty, when rising levels of FSH trigger the start of the ovarian cycle. Each month thereafter, some of the primary oocytes will be stimulated to undergo further development. Not all primary oocytes produced during development survive until puberty. The ovaries have roughly 2 million primordial follicles at birth, each containing a primary oocyte. By the time of puberty, the number has dropped to about 400,000. The rest of the primordial follicles degenerate in a process called atresia. Although the nuclear events under way in the ovaries during meiosis are the same as those in the testes, the process differs in two important details: The cytoplasm of the primary oocyte is unevenly distributed during the two meiotic divisions. Oogenesis produces one functional ovum, which contains most of the original cytoplasm, and two or three polar bodies , nonfunctional cells that later disintegrate The ovary releases a secondary oocyte rather than a mature ovum. The secondary oocyte is suspended in metaphase of meiosis II; meiosis will not be completed unless and until fertilization occurs.