South African Association of Marine Biological Research offers some interesting bluebottle and velella facts
When you're strolling on Durban beaches or taking a dip in the water, you'll most likely come across a tiny blue jellyfish-like creature. Durbanites have become accustomed to seeing them across our shores, but how much do we really know about them? The South African Association for Marine Biological Research explains what bluebottles and velellas are and some important differences between them.
THE South African Association for Marine Biological Research (SAAMBR) based at uShaka Marine World recently shared a statement explaining the mysteries behind the striking blue creatures that are often found across our shorelines.
According to a statement released by SAAMBR, the organisation decided to shed some light on the tiny blue creature, when at lunchtime on Thursday, a few of the SAAMBR staff went for a stroll along the uShaka Beach shoreline and came across both bluebottles and velellas along the low water mark.
“The bluebottle is also known by the name Portuguese-Man-o’-War whilst the velella is known by the much gentler name of By-the-Wind Sailor. In KZN, it is more common to come across bluebottles than the smaller, lesser-known vellela, so we thought we would explore the differences and similarities between the two,” said SAAMBR.
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They both belong to the group of animals known as Cnidaria, which includes jellyfish.
“A bluebottle is not a single animal, but a colony of individual modified organisms each doing a different job attached to a soft gas-filled float. A velella is also made up of a colony of tiny individual animals, but instead of a gas-filled float, they sport a delicate air-filled raft,” said SAAMBR.
The statement from the marine life organisation went on to explain that the bluebottle regularly dips its soft float into the ocean to prevent it from drying out while the velella is unable to manipulate its upright triangular sails.
“Bluebottles possess long threads with coiled stinging cells inside them which they use to catch prey such as small fish and zooplankton. Their stings can be extremely painful to humans. The velella, on the other hand, relies on a central feeding gastrozooid beneath the raft which is surrounded by a fringe of short stinging tentacles. In most cases, their stinging cells are not harmful to humans,” said SAAMBR.
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According to SAAMBR, both bluebottles and velellas have no means of locomotion other than their ‘sails’ which render them at the mercy of the prevailing winds to move around.
“It is probable that both these animals were brought ashore by the recent strong onshore winds. Next time you are strolling along the shoreline and see bluebottles, perhaps look a little closer and you may see a velella!” said SAAMBR.
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