Blaschka "Porpita porpita"

3D Model

Model SC-138 of the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology Collection of Blaschka Marine Invertebrates. P. porpita, also called the blue button, actually consists of a colony of hydroids, though it is often mistaken to be a jellyfish (from the EOL page). The complete classification is: Phylum: Cnidaria, Class: Hydrozoa, Order: Anthoathecata, Family: Porpitidae, Genus: Porpita, species: porpita. These are found in warm waters of the Atlantic, Mediterranean and western Pacific. They eat plankton and are preyed upon by nudibranches such as the violet sea swallows (aka blue angel, blue glaucus, blue dragon).

This ~ 1.5 inch glass model was made by the father-and-son team Rudolf and Leopold Blaschka in the late 1800s.

~350 images pre-processed in Photoshop, modeled with Agisoft Photoscan and completed in Blender. (model # SC138march26o)