What is Chondrophore?
{{Automatic taxobox | name = Chondrophores | image = porpita porpita.jpg | image_caption = [[Porpita porpita|Blue button]] (''Porpita porpita'') | taxon = Porpitidae | authority = Goldfuss, 1818 | subdivision_ranks = [[Genus|Genera]] | subdivision = * ''[[Porpita]]'' * ''[[Velella]]'' | type_genus = ''Porpita'' | synonyms = * Velellidae <small>Eschscholtz, 1829</small> * Discalidae <small>Haeckel, 1888</small> * Porpalidae <small>Haeckel, 1888</small> * Porpitellidae <small>Haeckel, 1888</small> * Chondrophora <small>Totton, 1954</small> }} The '''chondrophores''' or '''porpitids''' are a small and unusual group of [[hydrozoa]]ns. They are the [[family (biology)|family]] '''Porpitidae'''.<ref>[http://www.ville-ge.ch/mhng/hydrozoa/hydrozoa-directory.htm Schuchert, Peter 2012. ''The hydrozoa directory''. Muséum Geneve]</ref> They all live at the surface of the open ocean, and are [[Colony (biology)|colonies]] of [[carnivorous]], free-floating [[hydroid]]s. Their [[life-style]] in the [[plankton]] is similar to that of pelagic [[jellyfish]]. The chondrophores look like a single [[organism]] but are cooperatives of [[polyp]]s. The most familiar members of the family Porpitidae are the blue button (''Porpita porpita'') and the by-the-wind sailor (''Velella velella''). == Structure == Chondrophores may look like a jellyfish, but they really are not. Like the [[siphonophores]] they are not a single animal. They are a colony of [[clones]], [[genetically]] identical [[zooids]]. These zooids are small, highly modified individual polyps. Though structurally similar to other [[cnidaria]]ns, the zooids do not live by themselves: they are attached to each other. Each type of zooid depends for survival on the others doing what it cannot do by itself. This kind of set-up is also found in the [[siphonophores]]: the [[Portuguese man o' war]]. They evolved independently, and are classified in different [[Order (biology)|orders]]. == Fossil record == A rare soft-bodied [[fossil]] was got from [[Mississippian]] [[strata]] i