Category: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.