Porpita porpita
{{Short description|Species of hydrozoan}}
{{for|a system for patients to view online and download their own personal health records|Blue Button}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Porpita porpita.jpg
| image_caption = Blue button
| taxon = Porpita porpita
| authority = (Linnaeus, 1758)
{{cite WoRMS
|title=Porpita porpita {{small|(Linnaeus, 1758)}}
|year=2011
|db=hydrozoa
|id=117831
|doi=10.14284/170
|via=VLIZ
|access-date=2011-12-18
}}
}}
Porpita porpita, or the blue button, is a marine organism consisting of a colony of hydroids
{{cite web
|title=Blue button jellyfish (Porpita porpita) blue jellyfish with fringe
|website=beachhunter.net
|url=http://www.beachhunter.net/thingstoknow/jellyfish/blue-button-jellyfish.htm
|access-date=2020-04-13
}}
found in the warmer, tropical and sub-tropical waters of the Pacific,
{{cite book
|last=Meinkoch |first=Norman
|year=1981
|title=The Audubon Field Guide to North American Seashore Creatures
|series=The Audubon Field Guides
|place=New York, NY
|publisher=Audubon Society
}}
Atlantic, and Indian oceans, as well as the Mediterranean Sea and eastern Arabian Sea.
{{cite journal
|last1=Gul |first1=Shahnawaz
|last2=Gravili |first2=Cinzia
|date=11 March 2014
|title=On the occurrence of Porpita porpita (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) at Pakistan coast (north Arabian Sea)
|journal=Marine Biodiversity Records
|volume=7 |page=e24 |edition=online
|issn=1755-2672 |doi=10.1017/S1755267214000189
}}
It was first identified by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, under the basionym Medusa porpita.
{{cite journal
|last1=Lillo |first1=Antonio
|last2=Tiralongo |first2=Francesco
|last3=Tondo |first3=Elena
|year=2019
|title=New records of Porpita porpita {{small|(Linnaeus, 1758)}} (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) in the Mediterranean Sea
|journal=Natural and Engineering Sciences
|volume=4 |pages=293–298
|doi=10.28978/nesciences.646425
|doi-access=free
}}
{{cite journal
|last=Calder |first=Dale R.
|date=August 2010
|title=Some anthoathecate hydroids and limnopolyps (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa) from the Hawaiian archipelago
|journal=Zootaxa
|volume=2590 |issue=1 |page=31
|doi=10.11646/zootaxa.2590.1.1 |doi-access=free
}}
In addition, it is one of the two genera under the suborder Chondrophora, which is a group of cnidarians that also includes Velella.
{{cite journal
|last=Deidun |first=Alan
|year=2010
|title=Notes on the recent occurrence of uncommon pelagic 'jellyfish' species in Maltese coastal waters
|journal=Naturalisa Siciliano
|volume=4 |issue=34 |series=3-4 |pages=375–384
}}
The chondrophores are similar to the better-known siphonophores, which includes the Portuguese man o' war, or Physalia physalis. Although it is superficially similar to a jellyfish, each apparent individual is actually a colony of hydrozoan polyps. The taxonomic class, Hydrozoa, falls under the phylum Cnidaria, which includes anemones, corals, and jellyfish, which explains their similar appearances.
Description
File:Porpita porpita, Omata, New Zealand imported from iNaturalist photo 206228967.gif
The blue button can grow up to 30 mm in diameter and lives on the surface of the sea and consists of two main parts: the float and the hydroid colony. The hard golden brown float is round, almost flat, and about one inch wide. The float organ is responsible for the organism's vertical movement
{{cite journal
|last1=Fryer |first1=G.
|last2=Stanley |first2=G.D.
|year=2004
|title=A Silurian porpitoid hydrozoan from Cumbria, England, and a note on porpitoid relationships
|journal=Palaeontology
|volume=47 |issue=5 |pages=1109–1119
}}
and also contains pores that are able to communicate with other P. porpita organisms as well as its surroundings.
{{cite journal
|last1=Chowdhury |first1=M. Shah Nawaz |last2=Sharifuzzaman |first2=S.M.
|last3=Chowdhury |first3=Sayedur Rahman |last4=Rashed-Un-Nabi |first4=M.D.
|last5=Hossain |first5=M. Shahadat
|date=2016-06-01
|title=First record of Porpita porpita (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) from the coral reef ecosystem, Bangladesh
|journal=Ocean Science Journal |language=en
|volume=51 |issue=2 |pages=293–297
|doi=10.1007/s12601-016-0025-9
|s2cid=89423938 |issn=2005-7172
}}
The hydroid colony's polyps can range from bright blue turquoise to yellow. The polyps resemble the tentacles of jellyfish.
{{cite web
|first=Jennifer |last=Kennedy
|date=3 July 2019
|title=Identification of jellyfish and jelly-like animals
|at=Item 11 of 11 – Blue button jellyfish (bottom of page)
|department=Science, Tech, Math › Animals & Nature
|website=ThoughtCo
|url=https://www.thoughtco.com/jellyfish-identification-tips-2291855
|access-date=2023-07-09 |url-status=live
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230602155720/https://www.thoughtco.com/jellyfish-identification-tips-2291855
|archive-date=2023-06-02
}}
"Identification Chart for Jellies".
Archived 2009-02-21 at the Wayback Machine{{failed verification|date=July 2023|reason=No page with that title on archive.org for year 2009.}}
{{full citation|date=July 2023}}
Each strand has numerous branchlets, each of the knobs of stinging cells called nematocysts terminates at the distal end. The blue button has a single mouth located beneath the float, which is used for both the intake of prey and the expulsion of wastes. The mouth is surrounded by a ring of gonozooids and dactylozooids. Tentacles are found only on the dactylozooids, which exist furthest away from the mouth, towards the outer part of the hydroid colony.
Habitat and feeding
{{see also|Ocean surface ecosystem}}
The blue button is a part of the neustonic food web, which covers the organisms that inhabit the region on or near the surface of the ocean. This is because it is a passive drifter, which means that it relies on water currents and wind to carry it through the ocean. It is preyed on by the sea slug Glaucus atlanticus (sea swallow or blue dragon), violet sea-snails of the genus Janthina,
{{cite book
|last1=Hayward |first1=P.J.
|last2=Ryland |first2=J.S.
|year=1990
|title=The Marine Fauna of the British Isles and North-West Europe
|volume=2 – Molluscs to Chordates
|page=681
|publisher=Clarendon Press
|place=Oxford, UK
|ISBN=0-19-857515-7
}}
and the other blue dragon, Glaucus marginatus.
{{cite news
| last=Salleh | first=Anna
| date=12 February 2021
| title=Bizarre 'blue fleet' blows onto Australia's east coast
| website=ABC News (abc.net.au)
| publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation
| url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2021-02-13/bizarre-blue-fleet-blows-onto-australias-east-coast/13139456
| access-date=13 February 2021
}}
Unlike Velella, which prefers a passive diet, Porpita will hunt active crustaceans like crab and fish.
{{cite journal
|last=Saygın |first=Özlem
|year=2017
|title=On the occurrence of blue button, Porpita porpita (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) from Levantine coast of Turkey
|journal=Natural and Engineering Sciences
|volume=2 |pages=33–36
|doi=10.28978/nesciences.328905
|doi-access=free
}}
It competes with other drifters for food, and mainly feeds on copepods and crustacean larvae.
File:Blue Button Porpita Porpita Uthandi Jan21 D72 19405.jpg|Central disk of blue button
1.5 cm diameter
File:(Porpita porpita) Blue button at Thotlakonda Beach 06.JPG|Blue button from Bay of Bengal
File:(Porpita porpita) Blue button, found on Uttorda Beach, Goa, India.jpg|Blue button from Arabian Sea
File:Porpita porpita, Omata, New Zealand imported from iNaturalist photo 206229064.jpg|Polyp closeup
Commensalism with a fish
Young Carangoides malabaricus, also known as the 'Malabar trevally', have been shown to take shelter underneath the floats of Porpita porpita. When removed from its host, the fish will panic. These juvenile fish also appear to show preference for a particular siphonophore. When two pairs of Porpita porpita and Carangoides malabaricus are separated by species, then returned to the same tank, each fish will return to its respective partner.
{{cite journal
|last=Noble |first=A.
|year=1963
|title=Association between the fish, Caranx malabaricus {{small|(Cuv. & Val.)}} and the siphonophore, Porpita pacifica {{small|(Lesson)}}
|journal=Journal of the Marine Biological Association of India
|volume=5 |pages=142–143
}}
Effects of global warming
The blue button sting is not powerful but may cause slight irritation to human skin.
{{cite journal
|last1=Ramanibai |first1=R.
|last2=Govindan |first2=S.
|last3=Balakrishnan |first3=T.
|year=2014
|title=Notes on the occurrence of Porpita porpita (Blue button) from Pulicat Lagoon
|journal=Journal of Research in Biology
|volume=4 |issue=7 |pages=1487–1490
}}
However, in recent [when?] years, it has been hypothesized that, due to global warming, Porpita pacifica (another name for the species) colonies have begun appearing in larger numbers along coastlines in Japan, and the first case of contact dermatitis from this species was recorded.
{{cite journal
|last1=Oiso |first1=N. |last2=Fukai |first2=K.
|last3=Ishii |first3=M. |last4=Ohgushi |first4=T.
|last5=Kubota |first5=S.
|date=April 2005
|title=Jellyfish dermatitis caused by Porpita pacifica, a sign of global warming?
|journal=Contact Dermatitis
|volume=52 |issue=4 |pages=232–233
|doi=10.1111/j.0105-1873.2005.0566f.x
}}
A sudden increase in the abundance of Porpita porpita has also been observed in a separate study of its populations in the Ionian and Adriatic seas, possibly also due to rising temperatures throughout the oceans.
{{cite journal
|last=Bianchi |first=C.N.
|year=2007
|title=Biodiversity issues for the forthcoming tropical Mediterranean Sea
|journal=Hydrobiologia
|volume=580 |pages=7–21
}}
References
{{reflist|25em}}
{{Commons Category|Porpita porpita}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q2535508}}