Alternative Titles: visceral pericardium, visceral serous layer
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...The portion of membrane lining the fibrous pericardium is known as the parietal serous layer (parietal pericardium), that covering the heart as the visceral serous layer (visceral pericardium or epicardium).
The wall of the heart consists of three distinct layers—the epicardium (outer layer), the myocardium (middle layer), and the endocardium (inner layer). Coronary vessels supplying arterial blood to the heart penetrate the epicardium before entering the myocardium. This outer layer, or visceral pericardium, consists of a surface of flattened epithelial (covering) cells resting upon...
...do not have the well-developed secondary body cavity (coelom) of other chordates, but traces of one perhaps are represented by cavities around the heart and by an extension of the gut called the epicardium around some of the internal organs. The body cavities are considered to be a part of the circulatory system. There are a heart and some large blood vessels but no tiny capillaries. The...