Velella velella
E400656
Velella velella is a small, free-floating colonial hydrozoan, often called "by-the-wind sailor," that drifts on the ocean surface using a distinctive sail-like structure.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Velella | 1 |
| Velella velella canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T3936940 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Velella velella Context triple: [Hydrozoa, hasMember, Velella velella]
-
A.
Jellyfish
Jellyfish is an American power pop band known for its lush harmonies, Beatlesque songwriting, and cult following in the early 1990s.
-
B.
Aeolid
An Aeolid is a descendant of Aeolus in Greek mythology, belonging to a legendary family line often associated with kings and heroes.
-
C.
Anesidora
Anesidora is an epithet of the Greek goddess Demeter that emphasizes her role as the giver of gifts, especially the bounty of the earth.
-
D.
Tanaea
Tanaea is a small village located on Tarawa Atoll in the Pacific island nation of Kiribati.
-
E.
Thaliacea
Thaliacea is a class of free-floating, barrel-shaped marine tunicates that form part of the plankton and often live in colonies.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Velella velella Target entity description: Velella velella is a small, free-floating colonial hydrozoan, often called "by-the-wind sailor," that drifts on the ocean surface using a distinctive sail-like structure.
-
A.
Jellyfish
Jellyfish is an American power pop band known for its lush harmonies, Beatlesque songwriting, and cult following in the early 1990s.
-
B.
Stauromedusae
Stauromedusae are a distinctive order of stalked, sessile jellyfish that attach to substrates in cold, shallow marine waters rather than swimming freely like typical medusae.
-
C.
Aeolid
An Aeolid is a descendant of Aeolus in Greek mythology, belonging to a legendary family line often associated with kings and heroes.
-
D.
Anesidora
Anesidora is an epithet of the Greek goddess Demeter that emphasizes her role as the giver of gifts, especially the bounty of the earth.
-
E.
Tanaea
Tanaea is a small village located on Tarawa Atoll in the Pacific island nation of Kiribati.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
cnidarian
ⓘ
hydrozoan ⓘ marine invertebrate ⓘ |
| adaptation | sail used to catch wind ⓘ |
| bodyColor |
blue
ⓘ
violet ⓘ |
| class | Hydrozoa ⓘ |
| colonyType | floating colonial polyp ⓘ |
| commonName |
by-the-wind sailor
ⓘ
purple sail ⓘ |
| diet |
fish larvae
ⓘ
plankton ⓘ small crustaceans ⓘ |
| distribution |
Atlantic Ocean
ⓘ
Indian Ocean ⓘ Pacific Ocean ⓘ worldwide temperate oceans ⓘ |
| ecologicalRole |
planktonic predator
ⓘ
prey for surface-feeding predators ⓘ |
| family | Porpitidae ⓘ |
| feedingType | carnivorous ⓘ |
| genus |
Velella
ⓘ
linked to:
Velella velella
|
| habitat |
open ocean surface
ⓘ
pelagic zone ⓘ |
| hasStructure |
chitinous sail
ⓘ
gas-filled float ⓘ gastrozooids ⓘ gonozooids ⓘ tentacles ⓘ |
| kingdom | Animalia ⓘ |
| lifecycleStage |
minute medusae in plankton
ⓘ
polyp colony at surface ⓘ |
| lifestyle | holoplanktonic ⓘ |
| locomotion | wind-driven sailing ⓘ |
| movement | passive drifting ⓘ |
| orientationOfSail | oblique to body axis ⓘ |
| phylum | Cnidaria ⓘ |
| predator |
sea slugs
ⓘ
sea turtles ⓘ surface-feeding fish ⓘ |
| relatedTo | Porpita porpita ⓘ |
| reproduction |
alternation of generations
ⓘ
asexual reproduction in polyp colony ⓘ sexual reproduction in medusae ⓘ |
| size | up to about 7 cm in length ⓘ |
| stingEffectOnHumans | usually mild irritation ⓘ |
| strandings | often mass-stranded on beaches ⓘ |
| taxonRank | species ⓘ |
| venom | nematocysts present ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Velella velella Description of subject: Velella velella is a small, free-floating colonial hydrozoan, often called "by-the-wind sailor," that drifts on the ocean surface using a distinctive sail-like structure.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.