Science Photo of the Day
This is another "What is it?" that we found on the beach in St. Augustine. What is it?
Great job! This is a Blue Button, a type of colonial hydrozoan related to the Portuguese Man-o-War. While it looks like a jellyfish, it is actually a colony of tiny creatures attached to the chitinous disc, which is hollow and filled with air to let the colony float. It does have stinging cells, which can be irritating, but are not dangerous to people. It is very similar to Velella velella, the by-the-wind sailor, but it does not have the small sail like the sailor.
blue button and portuguese man o war (indo pacific)
My family and I were recently at a beach in Nambucca Heads, a small town near coffs harbour in the middle of the east coast of Australia. The night before there had been a storm and hundreds of portuguese man o war had been washed up onto the sand along with a large number of Blue Buttons. There were also quite a few small shells (of a similar blue to the portuguese man o war) with a jelly-like substance with air bubbles pouring out I was wondering if anyone new what they were?
Blue botton (porpita porpita)
Thank you so much!!!
I found the same type in 2005 on a trip in Venezuela, but I've never found out what it really was, so thanks for the website!!! really cool to finally know what it is :D
cool!
that is really cool
Cathryne
What is it?
It's a blue button jellyfish (porpita, porpita). Here's a website devoted to it. http://www.beachhunter.net/thingstoknow/jellyfish/blue-button-jellyfish.htm
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