Porpita porpita, or the blue button, is a marine organism consisting of a colony of hydroids[2]
found in the warmer, tropical and sub-tropical waters of the Pacific,[3]
Atlantic, and Indian oceans, as well as the Mediterranean Sea and eastern Arabian Sea.[4]
It was first identified by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, under the basionym Medusa porpita.[5][6]
In addition, it is one of the two genera under the suborder Chondrophora, which is a group of cnidarians that also includes Velella.[7]
The chondrophores are similar to the better-known siphonophores, which includes the Portuguese man o' war, or Physalia physalis. Although it is superficially similar to a jellyfish, each apparent individual is actually a colony of hydrozoanpolyps. The taxonomic class, Hydrozoa, falls under the phylum Cnidaria, which includes anemones, corals, and jellyfish, which explains their similar appearances.
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Meinkoch, Norman (1981). The Audubon Field Guide to North American Seashore Creatures. The Audubon Field Guides. New York, NY: Audubon Society.
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Gul, Shahnawaz; Gravili, Cinzia (11 March 2014). "On the occurrence of Porpita porpita (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) at Pakistan coast (north Arabian Sea)". Marine Biodiversity Records. 7 (online ed.): e24. doi:10.1017/S1755267214000189. ISSN1755-2672.
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Deidun, Alan (2010). "Notes on the recent occurrence of uncommon pelagic 'jellyfish' species in Maltese coastal waters". Naturalisa Siciliano. 3-4. 4 (34): 375–384.