Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops after birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively 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 Metamorphosis of Plants, influenced the development of ideas of evolution. The word "metamorphosis" derives from Greek μεταμόρφωσις, "transformation, transforming", from μετα- (meta-), "change" + μορφή (morfe) "form". Metamorphosis usually proceeds in distinct stages, starting with larva or nymph, optionally passing through pupa, and ending as adult.

There are two main types of metamorphosis in insects, hemimetabolism and holometabolism.

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