velella Meaning, Definition & Usage

Ve*lel"la noun
Etymology
NL., dim. from L. velum a veil, a sail.
Definitions
  1. (Zoöl.) Any species of oceanic Siphonophora belonging to the genus Velella. ✍ 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.

Webster 1913