'Velella' definitions:

Definition of 'Velella'

From: GCIDE
  • Velella \Ve*lel"la\, n. [NL., dim. from L. velum a veil, a sail.] (Zool.) Any species of oceanic Siphonophora belonging to the genus Velella. [1913 Webster]
  • Note: 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]