ABSTRACT
Greater diversity of life forms, being a necessary condition of biological evolution, can be attained via changes within a given organism as well as via mutation and recombination of genes. The passing of changes in a given organism to the progeny is accomplished by means of fragmentation or germ cells. A “hermaphrodite” is an organism that contains different gametes. The term “full hermaphrodite” shall be reserved for self-fertilizing organism that produces progeny. This kind of full hermaphrodism is characteristic of relatively simple forms of life such as snails. The spectrum between full hermaphrodite and sexes contains so called sex-convertible organisms. In terms of sexual differentiation, organisms that belong to these intermediate forms have no special functional features although theoretically they that can fulfill the functions of either sex. Sexual transformation is observed among some species of fish that can alternate between male and female sexes depending on the circumstances.
