第 1118 号，共 1 402 张

By-the-wind sailor

Velella velella

名字的由来： Its common name refers to its small sail, which catches the wind and carries the animal across the sea.1

无害对人无害。不用担心。

水母和海中蜇人生物

会蜇人的触手吃：肉

对人的危险: 轻微像被蜜蜂蜇一下或更轻。对人基本无害。

The by-the-wind sailor is a small, deep blue animal that floats on the surface of the open ocean. It is not a single creature but a colony of tiny linked animals, and it moves by catching the wind with a small stiff sail. Its stinging tentacles are generally harmless to people, but they can irritate the skin.1

生活在

Warm and temperate waters of all the world's oceans1

太平洋, 大西洋, 印度洋, 地中海, 南大洋, 南极洲

首页

It lives at the surface of the open ocean, floating with its sail above the water and its polyps hanging about 1 cm below. Under certain winds, thousands can be washed up on beaches, such as along the West Coast of North America, the west coast of Ireland and Hayle in Cornwall, England.1

长度

7 cm (2.8 in)1

最高速度

约 1 公里/小时（0.62 英里/小时）

游泳, 粗略估计

它吃什么？

It eats mostly plankton. It catches prey with tentacles that hang down in the water and bear stinging cells called nematocysts.1

By-the-wind sailor的照片 — By-the-wind sailor。照片：Niki Hubbard。 CC BY 4.0, iNaturalist.

怎样认出它

Usually deep blue in colour1
A small, stiff sail projects above the water1
Most are less than about 7 cm long1
Tentacles hang down into the water below the float1

毒液之力

会蜇人的触手

一碰到东西，成千上万个小刺细胞就会发射。

它的毒液会造成什么？

Its nematocysts contain toxins that are effective against its prey, which are mostly plankton. The nematocysts are relatively benign to humans, but each person may respond differently to the toxin. Contact may cause irritation to exposed skin.1

它对人有多危险？

对人的危险: 轻微像被蜜蜂蜇一下或更轻。对人基本无害。

It is relatively harmless to humans. Its main effect is possible skin irritation after contact. Mass strandings can leave large numbers of dying and rotting animals on beaches.1

如果它蜇人

离开水面，取下所有触手（戴手套或用布）。
热带箱水母：在蜇伤处倒醋至少 30 秒，呼救，并准备好做心肺复苏。僧帽水母和大多数其他水母：先用海水冲洗，再用热水止痛。

一定先拨打你的急救电话（112、000、911）。这里是一般急救指导，不是医疗建议。急救基础

注意安全

永远不要摸、抓或逗弄野生动物，即使是很小的，即使它看起来在睡觉或已经死了。
给它留出空间。如果遇到它，保持冷静，慢慢后退，让它走自己的路。
如果被它蜇了：保持冷静，保持不动，拨打你的急救电话（112、000、911）或尽快去医院。记住它长什么样，拍张照片会有帮助。

它不是冲着你来的。它用毒液捕猎或保护自己，而且它更愿意躲起来。更多安全知识

在世界哪里？

非洲亚洲欧洲北美洲南美洲澳大利亚和大洋洲南极洲太平洋大西洋印度洋南大洋地中海

它有多大？

它有多长？

和 2 块玩具积木排成一排一样长180 秒就能游完一个大泳池（50 米）

By-the-wind sailor和你比起来有多大？

只是在你的浏览器里算一算。什么都不会被保存或发送到任何地方。

它有多快？

一只花园蜗牛 约 0.05 公里/小时 (0.03 mph)

By-the-wind sailor 约 1 公里/小时 (0.62 mph)

一个在游泳的人 约 3 公里/小时 (1.9 mph)

值得了解

事实

Its floating colonies are mirror images of each other, either 'left-handed' or 'right-handed', and this affects where they drift. In the northern Pacific, one form tends to drift to North America and the other to eastern Asia, such as Japan.1

Each blue 'animal' with a sail is really a colony of linked polyps that share food through a canal system.1

Each colony is either all male or all female.1

Its sail is not a fin. It works like a sail, so the animal tends to drift downwind at a small angle to the wind.1

Its tiny jellyfish carry zooxanthellae, single-celled organisms that use sunlight to provide energy, a feature also found in corals.1

It has no means of moving other than its sail, so it depends on prevailing winds, and mass strandings on beaches happen in many parts of the world.1

谣言粉碎机

谣言： Each blue sail is a single, simple animal.

真相： Each apparent individual is a colony of many connected polyps that share food and divide the work between feeding, reproductive and protective polyps.1

给毒液专家

学名: Velella velella
类别: 水母和海中蜇人生物
家人: Porpitidae2
排序: Anthoathecata
大洲: 太平洋, 大西洋, 印度洋, 地中海, 南大洋, 南极洲, 海洋
宝宝: Each colony's feeding polyps (gonozooids) bud off thousands of tiny jellyfish, each about 1 mm wide, over several weeks. These develop into a free-swimming larva called a conaria, which grows into a new floating colony.1
对人的危险: 1 / 5: 轻微3