Blue Button
Porpita porpita
Markings and exact colorations may vary.
A flat golden disc ringed with bright blue tentacles, often stranded in big numbers after onshore winds.
- Typical size
- Up to 1.5 in
- How often it turns up
- Seasonal, common in pulses
- Collecting
- Check local rules
- Handling
- May irritate skin
This is a living animal. Photograph it and leave it where you found it, or ease it back into the water.
Tentacles can give a mild sting. Look, don't touch.
How to tell it apart
- Flat round golden-brown disc with concentric rings
- Fringe of blue tentacles with small knobs
- Floats at the surface; no tall sail
Where to find these in Florida
Beaches rated very good or excellent for tidepool life. Each page shows today’s score, the best window and access details.
- Bathtub Reef Beach · Stuart
- Anne's Beach · Islamorada
- Bahia Honda State Park · Big Pine Key
- Bathtub Beach · Stuart
- Caspersen Beach · Venice
- Curry Hammock State Park · Marathon
- Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park · Key West
- Harry Harris Park · Tavernier
- Higgs Beach · Key West
- John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park · Key Largo
- Long Key State Park · Long Key
- Marineland Beach · Marineland
Found one?
Photograph it and BeachNut ranks the likely matches with a confidence read, then logs it to your collection with the beach and date.
Browsing beaches and the full field guide is free. A free account logs unlimited finds and gives you three photo identifications a day.
Commonly confused with
Blue DragonGlaucus atlanticus
Blue button is a flat round disc; blue dragon is a slug with feathery arms — and it stings hard.
More tidepool life in the field guide
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