What is Metamorphosis?
The process in which an organism undergoes changes in the physical form as a part of development is called Metamorphosis.
For example,caterpillars turning into butterflies, tadpoles turning into frogs, etc.
Consider the example of a frog.
- The unfertilized eggs, from the female’s body, are released in the water. When laid in
water, they get fertilized by the sperms by the process of External fertilisation. - The resulting embryos will all stay together in a collective bundle which is held together by a jelly-like fluid.
- The next stage is where the embryos develop into the tiny structures having small tail.
- These structures are called Tadpoles. They do not keep swimming in the water and
remain attached to some support like a nearby plant body in the water. - These tadpoles later grow and show structures like external gills. The hind legs appear and gradually even the forelimbs appear. The length of their tail keeps reducing.
- After a couple of days, the tadpole transforms into a completely different structure and turns into a Frog.
Did you know?
The organs with which humans are born only grow in size and do not change as they grow old. So, humans do not undergo metamorphosis.