Wow... the beauty in the natural world! Looking like a piece of art, Porpita porpita (also known as Porpita pacifica), or the Blue Buttons are real stunners, literally. They belong to the phylum Cnidaria, which are known for their stinging cells used to capture prey. Blue buttons don't deliver a real wallop, but they could cause some discomfort if handled. Passively floating along on the sea's surface, they eat planktonic copepods, a group of small crustaceans, and other drifting larvae. They are not true jellyfish, but a colony of animals, each performing a function such as reproduction, feeding, or defense. The central float is made of chitin, and just about an inch in diameter. This rather flat disc is filled with gas and keeps the Blue Button afloat. Two predators of this beauty are just as striking: the sea slug Glaucus atlanticus, and the violet shells, planktonic sea snails in the genus Janthina.
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October 2014
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