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From Nordan Symposia
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'''Metamorphosis''' is a [[biological]] [[process]] by which an [[animal]] [[physical]]ly develops after birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and [[relative]]ly abrupt [[change]] in the [[animal]]'s [[body]] [[structure]] through cell [[growth]] and differentiation. Some insects, amphibians, mollusks, crustaceans, Cnidarians, echinoderms and tunicates undergo metamorphosis, which is usually (but not always) accompanied by a change of habitat or [[behavior]].
Scientific usage of the term is exclusive, and is not applied to general aspects of cell growth, including rapid growth spurts. [[References]] to "metamorphosis" in mammals are imprecise and only colloquial, but historically [[idealist]] [[ideas]] of [[transformation]] and monadology, as in Goethe's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metamorphosis_of_Plants Metamorphosis of Plants], influenced the development of [[ideas]] of [[evolution]].
==Etymology==
The word "metamorphosis" derives from Greek μεταμόρφωσις, "transformation, transforming"[1], from μετα- (meta-), "change" + μορφή (morphe) "form".
[[Category: Biology]]
'''Metamorphosis''' is a [[biological]] [[process]] by which an [[animal]] [[physical]]ly develops after birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and [[relative]]ly abrupt [[change]] in the [[animal]]'s [[body]] [[structure]] through cell [[growth]] and differentiation. Some insects, amphibians, mollusks, crustaceans, Cnidarians, echinoderms and tunicates undergo metamorphosis, which is usually (but not always) accompanied by a change of habitat or [[behavior]].
Scientific usage of the term is exclusive, and is not applied to general aspects of cell growth, including rapid growth spurts. [[References]] to "metamorphosis" in mammals are imprecise and only colloquial, but historically [[idealist]] [[ideas]] of [[transformation]] and monadology, as in Goethe's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metamorphosis_of_Plants Metamorphosis of Plants], influenced the development of [[ideas]] of [[evolution]].
==Etymology==
The word "metamorphosis" derives from Greek μεταμόρφωσις, "transformation, transforming"[1], from μετα- (meta-), "change" + μορφή (morphe) "form".
[[Category: Biology]]
