velella

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: Ve=lel=la

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]