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Jenny Haniver

Also called Jenny Hanivers, Dried ray dragon, Ray mummy

Dried skates and rays shaped into 'dragons', 'demons' and 'angels', sold as sea monsters since the 1500s.

The story

A Jenny Haniver is the body of a ray or skate that has been cut, shaped and dried to look like a fantastic creature, such as a demon, angel, dragon or basilisk. They have been made since at least the 16th century and sold as curiosities to sailors and collectors.

The earliest known picture is in the fourth volume of Conrad Gesner's Historia Animalium (1558), where he warned readers that these were only disfigured rays, not baby dragons. The name may be a sailors' version of the French jeune d'Anvers, 'youth of Antwerp'. Some writers think the 16th-century sea monk may have been one.

In Veracruz, Mexico, they are still credited with magical powers and used by curanderos, much as fake ningyo mermaids are kept in some Japanese temples. They belong to the same family of made-up marvels as Barnum's Feejee mermaid.

What was shown or claimed

  • A small dried 'dragon' or 'demon' with a face-like underside
  • Wing-like fins and a whip-thin tail
  • Sold as a sea curiosity

Timeline

  1. 1558Conrad Gesner pictures one and warns it is a doctored ray
    Zürich, Switzerland

    In 1558 Swiss naturalist Conrad Gesner published the earliest known picture of a Jenny Haniver, in volume IV of his Historia Animalium. He warned readers that these 'dragons' and 'basilisks' were really dried rays that had been cut and shaped by people, not real monsters.

    Source: Jenny Haniver - Wikipedia

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Similar creatures

Other lake and sea monsters from around the world.

Sea monkaka Monk-fish, Monachus marinusA 'fish' shaped like a hooded monk, caught in the Øresund off Denmark in 1546.Bishop-fishaka Sea bishop, Bishop fishA 16th-century sea creature shaped like a bishop in his mitre, said to have begged Polish clergy to free it.Mermaidaka Merfolk, MermanHalf-human, half-fish beings reported by sailors and coast dwellers for centuries, and still seen today.Ningyoaka Human-fish, Japanese mermaidJapan's 'human fish', an omen whose flesh was said to give centuries of life.Amabieaka Amabiko, AmahikoA glowing, beaked, scaly sea creature said to rise off Kyushu in 1846 and foretell harvests and plague.Issieaka Lake Ikeda monster, IsshiiA humped lake monster said to live in Lake Ikeda, the largest lake on Japan's Kyushu island.

Also from Belgium, Japan, Mexico

Different creatures from the same part of the world.

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