WHATSTHATFISH
Jellyfish & hydroids

Blue Button Jellyfish

Porpita porpita

Also known as: Blue Button, Blue Button Jelly, Disc Hydroid, Stinger, Stinging Bluebottle

Adult
@vanshka · Puerto cabello, Venezuela · September 20131 / 2
01

Overview

Found near the surface, drifting in bays, estuaries and lagoons also out in the oceans, moving with the currents, tides and winds. They are often blown ashore in bad weather. The round hard float is almost flat with stinging strands of hydroid surrounding it, each strand has little branchlets off, they do not give a powerful sting, more of an irritation.
Depth - surface of the water

These are not true jelly fish they are Siphonophore a colonial organism made up of zooids.
Jellyfish are 95% water.
They have no heart, brain, blood, or gills. The body of the Jellyfish is called a bell. They do have a mouth, tentacles and arms around their mouth. They use their arms around their mouth to help sense and find food that ends up inside their mouth.

02

How to identify

Body shape
tentacles

Tap any trait to see other fish that share it.

03

Habitat & where to find it

  • Range · Worldwide
  • Country only · 2
LIVES IN

Found near the surface, drifting in bays, estuaries and lagoons also out in the oceans, moving with the currents, tides and winds.

04

Adult photos 2

06

Discussion 4

Comments are checked by a moderator before they appear.

4 comments

  • G· 10 Oct 2018

    Thoundsands on the beach at Roatan in the aftermath of hurricane Michael

  • Jules· 29 Jan 2017

    Thousands or millions washed up on the beach 29/01/17 at Nambucca Heads, mid-north coast - we haven't seen them before. Many had no blue edge, simply off-white; many were small as 8mm wide. No stingers were obvious on the high tide line, all washed together. Thanks for post.

  • Robyn Anderson· 5 Jan 2016

    Can you tell me if these button bluebottle is in Australia as we have lived many years by the seaside and have never seen them before.

ALL STAGES
FOR THE MARINE-BIOLOGY CURIOUS

Deep dive

Taxonomy

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumCnidaria
  3. classHydrozoa
  4. orderAnthoathecata
  5. familyPorpitidae
  6. genusPorpita
  7. speciesPorpita porpita (Linnaeus, 1758)

SourcesWoRMSWikipedia

07

More in the family

Anthoathecata