Shore life · La Saladita, Guerrero

Blue Button

Porpita porpita

Spanish: Medusa botón azul

Blue Button (Porpita porpita)
Photographed by zihuadean on iNaturalist · CC-BY-NC

Porpita porpita, or the blue button, is a marine organism consisting of a colony of hydroids found in the warmer, tropical and sub-tropical waters of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans, as well as the Mediterranean Sea and eastern Arabian Sea. It was first identified by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, under the basionym Medusa porpita. In addition, it is one of the two genera under the suborder Chondrophora, which is a group of cnidarians that also

TaxonomyHydrozoa › Anthoathecata › Porpitidae
Local records19 research-grade observations within about 50 km of La Saladita (the survey box also takes in Zihuatanejo, Ixtapa and Troncones)
Global records5,138 on iNaturalist
Most recent records2025 – 2026
Months of the 8 most recent records
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Recent local sightings

Interactive card with more photos, sounds and similar species Shore life guide iNaturalist Wikipedia

Cite as: “Blue Button (Porpita porpita) at La Saladita”, La Saladita Field Guide, lasaladita.com/species/porpita-porpita/, updated 2026-09-26. Observation counts and months come from iNaturalist research-grade records within about 50 km of 17.8375°N, 101.7606°W (the survey box also takes in Zihuatanejo, Ixtapa and Troncones); summary text from Wikipedia where present.