Ask the ChatbotGames & QuizzesHistory & SocietyScience & TechBiographiesAnimals & NatureGeography & TravelArts & CultureProConMoneyVideos
purple sail
Table of Contents
Introduction References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics
Images
purple sail
Quizzes
Sea otter (Enhydra lutris), also called great sea otter, rare, completely marine otter of the northern Pacific, usually found in kelp beds. Floats on back. Looks like sea otter laughing. saltwater otters
Animal Group Names
Lion (panthera leo)
Deadliest Animals Quiz
Mute swan with cygnet. (birds)
Match the Baby Animal to Its Mama Quiz
vulture. An adult bearded vulture at a raptor recovery center. The Gypaetus barbatus also known as the Lammergeier or Lammergeyer, is a bird of prey and considered an Old World vulture.
Animal Factoids
Related Questions
Read Next
Japanese spider crab
10 Animals With Evolutionary Traits Plucked Straight Out of a Nightmare
Malayan Leaf Frog - Megophrys nasuta
9 Animals That Look Like Leaves
Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) standing on rock, side view, Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya
The Fastest Animals on Earth
Big beaver gnawing on limb at river's edge
6 Animal Species that Mate for Life
Cuban Bee Hummingbird (Mellisuga helenae) single adult male, Zapata peninsula, Cuba, Caribbean.Bee hummingbirds are the smallest birds in the world.
Queen Mab’s Stable: 7 of the Smallest Animals
Discover
Charles Darwin, carbon print photograph by Julia Margaret Cameron, 1868.
What Darwin Got Right (and Wrong) About Evolution
The Colosseum, Rome, Italy. Giant amphitheatre built in Rome under the Flavian emperors. (ancient architecture; architectural ruins)
New Seven Wonders of the World
An old worn baseball and wood bat
Who Really Invented Baseball?
Orange basketball on black background and with low key lighting. Homepage 2010, arts and entertainment, history and society
The 10 Greatest Basketball Players of All Time
Sergeant Stubby or also known as Mascot Stubby. Unofficial mascot dog of the 102nd Infantry Regiment of the United States with the 26th (Yankee) Division in World War I. War dog. Possibly a Boston terrier - also sometimes described as a Boston bull terrier
8 Famous Animals
earthquake. Heavily damaged school in the town of Yingxiu after a major earthquake struck China's Sichuan Province on May 12, 2008.
The 6 Deadliest Earthquakes Since 1950
The Castillo, a Toltec-style pyramid, rises 79 feet (24 meters) above the plaza at Chichen Itza in Yucatan state, Mexico. The pyramid was built after invaders conquered the ancient Maya city in the tenth century.
What’s Inside the Pyramid at Chichén Itzá?
purple sail
purple sail Purple sails (Velella) stranded on a beach in Corsica.

purple sail

cnidarian
Also known as: Velella, by-the-wind sailor
Written and fact-checked by
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Article History
Also called:
By-the-wind Sailor
Related Topics:
Siphonophora
See all related content

purple sail, (genus Velella), any of a genus of floating marine animals usually classified in the order Siphonophora (class Hydrozoa) and characterized by a saillike pneumatophore, or gas-filled float. Below the sail hang various structures: tentacles armed with nematocysts, or stinging cells; gonozooids, which have a reproductive function; and a single, central gastrozooid, the feeding and digesting organ.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.
Britannica Chatbot logo

Britannica Chatbot

Chatbot answers are created from Britannica articles using AI. This is a beta feature. AI answers may contain errors. Please verify important information using Britannica articles. About Britannica AI.