Question
Question: What do you mean by metamorphosis?...
What do you mean by metamorphosis?
Solution
The development from the infant stage to a complete adult takes a long time in humans, but in some organisms, it is a matter of a short time. They surpassed this period in a short time. They become a complete adult after the conversion. Many hormones participate in this process.
Complete answer:
Metamorphosis is the process of conversion of an organism from infant to an adult. This is a biological process in which the animal physically grows after birth by cell growth and differentiation.
The animals undergoing metamorphosis are some insects, molluscs, fish, amphibians etc. There is a change in the nutrition source. There can be animals undergoing complete metamorphosis, incomplete metamorphosis and o metamorphosis.
The complete metamorphosis is called holometabolous. Incomplete metamorphosis is called hemimetabolous and the no metamorphosis is known as ametaboly.
Metamorphosis is understood as a concept of evolution by some scientists. The word metamorphosis means ‘transformation’.
Metamorphosis is an iodothyronine induced process in chordates. It is the ancestral feature of them.
In insects, this process is controlled by the hormones from the endocrine glands. Neurosecretory cells in the brain of insects release the PTTH (prothoracicotropic hormone).
The larva is the infant stage, then comes the pupal stage and ultimately is the adult form.
Note: The caterpillar is the larval stage of the butterfly. The tadpole forms into an adult frog. There are physical changes seen during the metamorphosis. The life of the animal also changes. The feeding habits of infants vary from the adult. The greatest changes are observed in moths or caterpillars.