A reproductive body or specialized structure in certain organisms, particularly in colonial animals like hydrozoans, that is devoted mainly to reproduction.
From Greek 'gonos' (seed, reproductive) + 'soma' (body). Coined in 19th-century zoology to describe structures in colonial organisms where a body part becomes primarily or exclusively reproductive.
Some colonial animals like hydrozoa have literally evolved specialized 'bodies' that do nothing but reproduce—it's like having a clone whose only job is making babies for the colony.
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