velella

POS

Noun

HYPHEN

Ve=lel=la

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CIDE DICTIONARY

velella, n. [NL., dim. from L. velum a veil, a sail.].

Any species of oceanic Siphonophora belonging to the genus Velella. [1913 Webster]

" 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." [1913 Webster]