Velella
Encyclopedia
Velella is a genus of free-floating hydrozoa
ns that lives on the surface of the open ocean, worldwide, and is commonly known by the names by-the-wind sailor, purple sail, little sail, or simply Velella. The most common, and perhaps the only species encountered is Velella velella.
These small cnidaria
ns are part of a specialised ocean surface community that also includes the cnidarian siphonophore known as the Portuguese Man o' War
, as well as some specialized predatory gastropod mollusks, including nudibranch
s (sea slugs) in the genus Glaucus
and purple snails in the genus Janthina
, all of which eat Velella
.
Each Velella is a hydroid colony, and most are less than about 7 cm long. They are usually deep blue in colour, but their most obvious feature is a small stiff sail that catches the wind and propels them over the surface of the sea. Under certain wind conditions, they can become stranded on beach
es in the thousands.
In common with other Cnidaria
, Velella are carnivorous animals. They catch their prey, generally plankton
, by means of cnidocyst (also called nematocyst) -laden tentacle
s that hang down in the water. Though the toxin
s in their nematocysts are effective against their prey, Velella are harmless to humans, either because their nematocysts are unable to pierce our skin, or perhaps because humans do not react to the toxins encapsulated in their nematocysts. Nevertheless, it is probably wise not to touch your face or eyes if you have been handling Velella.
. Offshore boaters are sometimes treated to seeing thousands of V. velella at a time on the water surface.
Having no means of locomotion, V. velella are at the mercy of prevailing winds for moving around the seas, and are thereby also subject to mass-strandings on beaches throughout the world. For example, most years in the spring, there is a mass stranding that occurs along the West Coast of North America, from British Columbia to California, beginning in the north and moving south over several weeks' time. In some years, so many animals are left at the tide line by receding waves, that the line of dying (and subsequently rotting) animals may be many centimetres deep, along hundreds of kilometres of beaches.
, Velella velella has a bipartite
life cycle, with a sort of alternation of generations. The deep blue by-the-wind sailors that are recognized by many beach-goers are the polyp phase of the life cycle. Each "individual" with its sail is really a hydroid colony, with many polyps that feed on ocean plankton and are connected by a canal system that enables the colony to share whatever food is ingested by individual polyps. Each by-the-wind sailor is a colony of all-male or all-female polyps. The colony has several different kinds of polyps, some of which are both feeding and reproductive, called gonozooids, and others protective, called dactylozooids.
The gonozooids each produce numerous tiny jellyfish by an asexual budding process, so that each Velella colony produces thousands of tiny jellyfish (medusae
), each about 1 mm high and wide, over several weeks. The tiny medusae are each provided with many zooxanthellae, single-celled endosymbiotic organisms typically also found in corals and some sea anemones, that can utilize sunlight to provide energy to the jellyfish. Curiously, although a healthy captive Velella will release many medusae under the microscope and thus must do the same in the sea, the medusae of Velella are rarely captured in the plankton and very little is known about their natural history. The medusae develop to sexual maturity within about three weeks in the laboratory and their free-spawned eggs and sperm develop into new floating hydroid colonies.
erected for three genera
of hydroids that live floating free at the surface of the open ocean: Velella, Porpita and Porpema. The systematic position of these peculiar genera has long been a topic of discussion among taxonomists who work with pelagic Cnidaria. The three genera were put in with Athecate hydroids in the mid-to-late 19th century by some, whereas other authors at the time included them in the Siphonophora
. A new order was established for these genera by Totton, in 1954, called the Chondrophora, while at the same time, other authors favored again placing them in the Anthomedusae/Athecatae. Most authors in the past 40 years have accepted interpretation of these animals as unusual floating colonial Athecate hydroids, which produce medusae clearly belonging in the Anthomedusae. Although the exact position of the family Porpitidae within the Athecatae/Anthomedusae is not yet clear, the order Chondrophora is no longer used by Hydrozoan systematists.
Hydrozoa
Hydrozoa are a taxonomic class of very small, predatory animals which can be solitary or colonial and which mostly live in saltwater. A few genera within this class live in freshwater...
ns that lives on the surface of the open ocean, worldwide, and is commonly known by the names by-the-wind sailor, purple sail, little sail, or simply Velella. The most common, and perhaps the only species encountered is Velella velella.
These small cnidaria
Cnidaria
Cnidaria is a phylum containing over 9,000 species of animals found exclusively in aquatic and mostly marine environments. Their distinguishing feature is cnidocytes, specialized cells that they use mainly for capturing prey. Their bodies consist of mesoglea, a non-living jelly-like substance,...
ns are part of a specialised ocean surface community that also includes the cnidarian siphonophore known as the Portuguese Man o' War
Portuguese Man o' War
The Portuguese Man o' War , also known as the Portuguese man-of-war, man-of-war, or bluebottle, is a jelly-like marine invertebrate of the family Physaliidae...
, as well as some specialized predatory gastropod mollusks, including nudibranch
Nudibranch
A nudibranch is a member of what is now a taxonomic clade, and what was previously a suborder, of soft-bodied, marine gastropod mollusks which shed their shell after their larval stage. They are noted for their often extraordinary colors and striking forms...
s (sea slugs) in the genus Glaucus
Glaucus atlanticus
Glaucus atlanticus is a species of small-sized blue sea slug, a pelagic aeolid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Glaucidae...
and purple snails in the genus Janthina
Janthina
Janthina is a genus of small to medium-sized pelagic or planktonic sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Janthinidae, commonly known as the "purple snails" or the "violet shells". -Description:...
, all of which eat Velella
Velella
Velella is a genus of free-floating hydrozoans that lives on the surface of the open ocean, worldwide, and is commonly known by the names by-the-wind sailor, purple sail, little sail, or simply Velella...
.
Each Velella is a hydroid colony, and most are less than about 7 cm long. They are usually deep blue in colour, but their most obvious feature is a small stiff sail that catches the wind and propels them over the surface of the sea. Under certain wind conditions, they can become stranded on beach
Beach
A beach is a geological landform along the shoreline of an ocean, sea, lake or river. It usually consists of loose particles which are often composed of rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles or cobblestones...
es in the thousands.
In common with other Cnidaria
Cnidaria
Cnidaria is a phylum containing over 9,000 species of animals found exclusively in aquatic and mostly marine environments. Their distinguishing feature is cnidocytes, specialized cells that they use mainly for capturing prey. Their bodies consist of mesoglea, a non-living jelly-like substance,...
, Velella are carnivorous animals. They catch their prey, generally plankton
Plankton
Plankton are any drifting organisms that inhabit the pelagic zone of oceans, seas, or bodies of fresh water. That is, plankton are defined by their ecological niche rather than phylogenetic or taxonomic classification...
, by means of cnidocyst (also called nematocyst) -laden tentacle
Tentacle
A tentacle or bothrium is one of usually two or more elongated flexible organs present in animals, especially invertebrates. The term may also refer to the hairs of the leaves of some insectivorous plants. Usually, tentacles are used for feeding, feeling and grasping. Anatomically, they work like...
s that hang down in the water. Though the toxin
Toxin
A toxin is a poisonous substance produced within living cells or organisms; man-made substances created by artificial processes are thus excluded...
s in their nematocysts are effective against their prey, Velella are harmless to humans, either because their nematocysts are unable to pierce our skin, or perhaps because humans do not react to the toxins encapsulated in their nematocysts. Nevertheless, it is probably wise not to touch your face or eyes if you have been handling Velella.
Distribution and habitat
Velella velella occur in warm and temperate waters in all the world's oceans. They live at the water/air interface, with the float above the water, and polyps hanging down about a centimeter below. Organisms that live partly in and partly out of the water like this are known as pleustonPleuston
Pleuston are the organisms that live in the thin surface layer existing at the air-water interface of a body of water as their habitat. Examples include some cyanobacteria, some gastropods, the ferns Azolla and Salvinia and the seed plants Lemna, Wolffia, Pistia, Eichornia and Hydrocharis. The...
. Offshore boaters are sometimes treated to seeing thousands of V. velella at a time on the water surface.
Having no means of locomotion, V. velella are at the mercy of prevailing winds for moving around the seas, and are thereby also subject to mass-strandings on beaches throughout the world. For example, most years in the spring, there is a mass stranding that occurs along the West Coast of North America, from British Columbia to California, beginning in the north and moving south over several weeks' time. In some years, so many animals are left at the tide line by receding waves, that the line of dying (and subsequently rotting) animals may be many centimetres deep, along hundreds of kilometres of beaches.
Life history
Like many HydrozoaHydrozoa
Hydrozoa are a taxonomic class of very small, predatory animals which can be solitary or colonial and which mostly live in saltwater. A few genera within this class live in freshwater...
, Velella velella has a bipartite
Bipartite
Bipartite means having two parts, or an agreement between two parties. More specifically, it may refer to any of the following:-Mathematics:* 2 * bipartite graph* bipartite cubic, a type of cubic function-Medicine:...
life cycle, with a sort of alternation of generations. The deep blue by-the-wind sailors that are recognized by many beach-goers are the polyp phase of the life cycle. Each "individual" with its sail is really a hydroid colony, with many polyps that feed on ocean plankton and are connected by a canal system that enables the colony to share whatever food is ingested by individual polyps. Each by-the-wind sailor is a colony of all-male or all-female polyps. The colony has several different kinds of polyps, some of which are both feeding and reproductive, called gonozooids, and others protective, called dactylozooids.
The gonozooids each produce numerous tiny jellyfish by an asexual budding process, so that each Velella colony produces thousands of tiny jellyfish (medusae
Medusa (biology)
In biology, a medusa is a form of cnidarian in which the body is shaped like an umbrella, in contrast with polyps. Medusae vary from bell-shaped to the shape of a thin disk, scarcely convex above and only slightly concave below...
), each about 1 mm high and wide, over several weeks. The tiny medusae are each provided with many zooxanthellae, single-celled endosymbiotic organisms typically also found in corals and some sea anemones, that can utilize sunlight to provide energy to the jellyfish. Curiously, although a healthy captive Velella will release many medusae under the microscope and thus must do the same in the sea, the medusae of Velella are rarely captured in the plankton and very little is known about their natural history. The medusae develop to sexual maturity within about three weeks in the laboratory and their free-spawned eggs and sperm develop into new floating hydroid colonies.
Systematics
The Porpitidae is a family of the HydrozoaHydrozoa
Hydrozoa are a taxonomic class of very small, predatory animals which can be solitary or colonial and which mostly live in saltwater. A few genera within this class live in freshwater...
erected for three genera
Genera
Genera is a commercial operating system and development environment for Lisp machines developed by Symbolics. It is essentially a fork of an earlier operating system originating on the MIT AI Lab's Lisp machines which Symbolics had used in common with LMI and Texas Instruments...
of hydroids that live floating free at the surface of the open ocean: Velella, Porpita and Porpema. The systematic position of these peculiar genera has long been a topic of discussion among taxonomists who work with pelagic Cnidaria. The three genera were put in with Athecate hydroids in the mid-to-late 19th century by some, whereas other authors at the time included them in the Siphonophora
Siphonophora
Siphonophorae or Siphonophora, the siphonophores, are an order of the Hydrozoa, a class of marine invertebrates belonging to the phylum Cnidaria. They are colonial, but the colonies can superficially resemble jellyfish; although they appear to be a single organism, each specimen is actually a...
. A new order was established for these genera by Totton, in 1954, called the Chondrophora, while at the same time, other authors favored again placing them in the Anthomedusae/Athecatae. Most authors in the past 40 years have accepted interpretation of these animals as unusual floating colonial Athecate hydroids, which produce medusae clearly belonging in the Anthomedusae. Although the exact position of the family Porpitidae within the Athecatae/Anthomedusae is not yet clear, the order Chondrophora is no longer used by Hydrozoan systematists.