#4962 · 🪼 jellyfish, starfish, worms & co
By-the-wind Sailor
🇳🇱 Bezaantje ·Velella velella
🪼 Jellyfish, starfish, worms & co 📍 in Europe, not in NL
📍 Tolovana Park, Cannon Beach, OR, USA
📍 Ferrel, Leiria, Portugal
📍 Wellington, New Zealand
📍 Cannon Beach
📍 Ilha de Santa Maria, 9580, Portugal
📍 Central Coast, BC, Canada
10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
- 1. © markc666 · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 2. © Niki Hubbard · CC BY 4.0
- 3. © Sherri Barras · CC BY 4.0
- 4. © Bettina Walter · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- 5. Tolovana Park, Cannon Beach, OR, USA:© Pond Gators · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 6. Ferrel, Leiria, Portugal:© João Pedro Silva · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 7. Wellington, New Zealand:© Luca Davenport-Thomas · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 8. Cannon Beach:© Mike Patterson · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 9. Ilha de Santa Maria, 9580, Portugal:© no rights reserved · CC0
- 10. Central Coast, BC, Canada:© angeleen · CC BY-NC 4.0
what is it?
Velella is a monospecific genus of hydrozoa in the Porpitidae family. Its only known species is Velella velella , a cosmopolitan free-floating hydrozoa that lives on the surface of the open ocean. It is commonly known by the names sea raft , by-the-wind sailor , purple sail , little sail , or simply Velella .
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
- 23,571 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named in 1758 (268 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- By-the-wind Sailor
- Nederlands
- Bezaantje
- scientific name
- Velella velella
- class
- Hydrozoa
- order
- Anthoathecata
- family
- Porpitidae
- sightings in NL
- 0
- sightings in Europe
- 3,564
- sightings worldwide
- 23,571
- GBIF records in NL
- 27
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1758
relatives· Porpitidae
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 59698, Wikidata Q1366657, GBIF 2265793, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.