Tissue Membranes Diagram – The Four Types Labeled

All 12 parts on the diagram

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On the body 4

Cutaneous membrane The skin. It covers the whole outside of the body.
Mucous membrane Lines passages that open to the outside. It is coated with mucus.
Serous membrane Lines a closed cavity and covers the organs in it.
Synovial membrane Lines the cavity of a freely movable joint.

What each is made of 8

Epithelium A sheet of cells packed side by side. Here it is one row of tall cells.
Epidermis The epithelium of the skin, many cells deep. Its top cells are flat.
Dermis The connective tissue layer of the skin, under the epidermis.
Mucus Coats and protects the surface of a mucous membrane.
Loose connective tissue Holds up the epithelium of a mucous membrane. Its name there is lamina propria.
Mesothelium One layer of flat cells: the epithelium of a serous membrane.
Serous fluid A thin fluid that lets organs slide with little friction.
Synovial fluid Made by the synovial membrane. It lubricates the joint.

How this list was compiled: Every name checked on 2026-10-03 in at least two of these. (1) SEER Training Modules, National Cancer Institute, Membranes, https://training.seer.cancer.gov/anatomy/cells_tissues_membranes/membranes.html : mucous membranes line cavities that open to the outside, epithelium on loose connective tissue; serous membranes line closed cavities, cover the organs and are wet with serous fluid; synovial membranes are connective tissue with no layer of epithelium and secrete synovial fluid into the joint cavity. (2) Kimber and Gray, Text-book of Anatomy and Physiology for Nurses, 1918 printing, public domain, chapter 8, https://archive.org/details/textbookanatomy01graygoog : the chief membranes of the body are classified as serous, synovial, mucous and cutaneous; mucous membranes are coated with mucus; synovial membrane is fibrous tissue and secretes synovia; the epidermis is epithelial tissue on the true skin. (3) Wikipedia, text only: Mucous membrane, Mesothelium, Synovial membrane and Skin, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesothelium . (4) Wiktionary, cutaneous: of the skin, https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cutaneous . (5) MedlinePlus, Immune response: mucus traps small particles, https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/000821.htm . (6) Henry Gray, Anatomy of the Human Body, 1918, public domain, the peritoneum: a layer of flattened mesothelium, lubricated by serous fluid, https://theodora.com/anatomy/the_abdomen.html . (7) Two anatomy textbooks read by full-text search on archive.org: Bassett, Anatomy and Physiology, 2005 (the cutaneous membrane is the skin; serous membranes produce serous fluid, synovial membranes synovial fluid), https://archive.org/details/anatomyphysiolog00bass , and Lever, Introducing Anatomy, 1980 (a mucous membrane is an epithelium on a loose connective tissue layer known as the lamina propria), https://archive.org/details/introducinganato0000leve . Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-10-03 from plain geometry; nothing traced. Licence: own work

How it works

This tissue membranes diagram has two views. The first shows where the mucous, serous, cutaneous and synovial membranes lie on one body. The second cuts through each membrane to show its layers.

Read the full guide

On the body

A mucous membrane lines passages that open to the outside, such as the tube from the mouth to the stomach. A serous membrane lines a closed cavity and covers the organs in it, such as the lungs. The cutaneous membrane is the skin. A synovial membrane lines the cavity of a freely movable joint.

What each is made of

Mucous and serous membranes are epithelial membranes: a sheet of epithelium on connective tissue. In a serous membrane the epithelium is one layer of flat cells, the mesothelium. The skin is built the same way: the epidermis, an epithelium many cells deep, over the dermis. A synovial membrane is connective tissue alone.

Mucous membranes open to the outside; serous membranes line closed cavities.
The quiz accepts skin for the cutaneous membrane, and lamina propria for the loose connective tissue.

Questions and answers

What are the four types of tissue membranes?

Mucous, serous, cutaneous and synovial membranes. Lists differ: one government training text names mucous and serous membranes as the epithelial membranes, and synovial membranes and the meninges as connective tissue membranes.

What is the difference between a mucous membrane and a serous membrane?

A mucous membrane lines passages that open to the outside and is coated with mucus. A serous membrane lines closed cavities, covers the organs in them and is wet with a thin serous fluid.

Which tissue membrane has no epithelium?

The synovial membrane. It is made of connective tissue only, and it releases synovial fluid into the joint cavity.

What is the cutaneous membrane?

The skin. Cutaneous means of the skin. Its outer part, the epidermis, is an epithelium many cells deep; under it lies the dermis, a layer of connective tissue.

How do I drag the labels onto the four types of tissue membranes?

Ask where each one lies. The lining of a passage that opens to the outside is mucous; the cover of an organ in a closed cavity is serous; the skin is cutaneous; the lining of a joint is synovial. Here you tap our own drawing.