By-the-wind sailor
- Scientific name
- Velella velella
- Phylum
- Cnidaria
- Class
- Hydrozoa
- Sting-o-meter
- 1/5
Like the closely related Bluebottle, Velella velella is a colony of animals that have a float suspending them at the water’s surface. The distinctive sail on the float enables them to be propelled by the wind, prompting their common name ‘By-the-wind sailors’. Under certain wind conditions they can be washed ashore in their thousands.
A small sea slug, Glaucus, eats Velella velella (and similar jellies, such as Bluebottles) and incorporates their stinging cells into its own tissues. When other animals try to eat Glaucus they receive a mouthful of sea jelly stings. Stealing the stinging cells from sea jellies is a very effective way of deterring predators!
Credit, Denis Riek.
