[oh-beel-yuh, oh-bee-lee-uh] 
| a colonial hydroid of the genus Obelia, common in temperate seas and appearing as a delicate, mosslike growth on rocks, pilings, etc. |
| o·be·lia (ō-bēl'yə) n. Any of various colonial marine hydroids of the genus Obelia, having various specialized feeding and reproductive polyps and growing in a branchlike form. Colonies of obelia are found as a delicate furlike growth on the wooden piles of piers and wharves. [New Latin Obelia, genus name, probably from Greek obeliās, a loaf baked on a spit, from obelos, a spit.] |