Porpita prunella is a marine species of hydrozoan organisms within the family Porpitidae.

He had mistakenly placed several illustrations of the species from different views and stages of its life cycle on siphonophorae, as the chondrophores were originally placed along with the Siphonophores.

[4] All chondrophores possess small tentacles that are known to cause minor irritation to human skin.

They live at the surface of the open ocean, and are colonies of carnivorous, free-floating hydroids whose role in the plankton community is similar to that of pelagic jellyfish.

The floats are not obvious in this species from Haeckel's description, and have not been formally described, although the strange hat-like structure on the hydrozoan's aboral side may have this function.