velella

Ve*lel"la, n. Etym: [NL., dim. from L. velum a veil, a sail.] (Zoöl.) Defn: Any species of oceanic Siphonophora belonging to the genus Velella. Note: These creatures are brilliantly colored and float at the surface of the sea. They have an oblong, disklike body, supported by a thin chitinous plate, from which rises a thin diagonal crest which acts as a sail. The feeding and reproductive zooids hang down from the under side of the disk.

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