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Velella velella

By-the-wind Sailor

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General Information

COMMON NAMES: By-the-wind Sailor, Little Sailor

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Native; Marine, near-shore, pelagic floater

SIGNIFICANCE LIST: ; Poisonous sting - moderate

KEY FEATURES: Vivid blue oval disc, to 6cm, with a thin triangular sail. The disc contains concentric air-chambers to act as a float, and the wind-catching sail is semi-rigid chitin. Underneath the large central mouth is surrounded by small tentacles with terminal mouths, which asexually bud small medusae. The free-living medusae are the adults - the sexually reproducing stage, and the embryos they make grow into new By-the-wind Sailors. The outer ring of tentacles have stinging-cells for defense and capturing food.

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: Present Makatea:
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN

Northern Group:
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Scientific Taxonomy

Velella velella (Linnaeus, 1758)
SYNONYMS: Velella pacifica [Formerly in the o.Siphonophora.]

TAXONOMY: ANIMALIA; CNIDARIA (=Coelenterates); HYDROZOA; Chondrophora; PORPITIDAE

More Information

GENERAL NOTE: Biologically this "animal" is probably a colony of specialised polyps - the float is a polyp, the mouth is a polyp, each asexually reproducing tentacle is a polyp and each feeding tentacle is a polyp.

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
None Recorded.

References:
None recorded.

Data Update History (information):
zB02, zD02

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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