Granny (sea anemone)

Granny was the affectionate name eventually given to a beadlet sea anemone, Actinia equina, which in 1828 was taken from a rocky shore at North Berwick in Scotland by an amateur naturalist, John Dalyell. During her long life through the Victorian era, she was cared for by a series of Edinburgh naturalists. Long outliving Dalyell, this sea anemone lived alone in a jar where she gave birth to several hundred offspring before her death in 1887. Dalyell investigated and was puzzled by how Granny was producing her young, and, even in the 21st century, the processes involved are not well understood by zoologists. Granny was shown to many visitors, some very distinguished, and her visitors' book held over a thousand names. She was the topic of several talks at scientific conferences, where she sometimes accompanied the speaker. Two educational children's stories were written about her in the didactic style typical of the era. She became well known during her lifetime, becoming "arguably the most famous and celebrated cnidarian of all time".

Early life

This specimen of an Actinia equina sea anemone was found on the shore at North Berwick in 1828 by the lawyer, antiquarian and naturalist John Graham Dalyell. Dalyell, who collected sea creatures, thought it appeared to be about seven years old when he came across it. Beadlets are commonly found on rocky north-east Atlantic coasts. Eventually in 1848 Dalyell, who by this time had been knighted and had inherited a baronetcy, described and illustrated it, calling it Actinia mesembryanthemum, in his two-volume book Rare and Remarkable Animals of Scotland, represented from Living Subjects, which concentrated on sessile marine creatures. He did not name the creature, simply referring to it as "the specimen of Plate XLV". The beadlet was reddish-brown when it was first taken but twenty years later it had become a dull greenish colour with blue tubercules at the base of the outer row of tentacles. There were three rows of tentacles with the fewest and longest in the inner row. Over time the number of tentacles increased, reaching 100 after 20 years. In 1860 it was described as being pale brown in colour and "no larger than a half-crown piece". After Dalyell's death in 1851 the creature was cared for by Rev Prof John Fleming, followed by Dr James M'Bain, and latterly by John Sadler and then Robert Lindsay, both curators of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

Personal life

Although Dalyell described the species as hermaphrodite, the particular specimen that became famous was generally regarded as female because she produced offspring. It was not understood at the time that beadlet sea anemones can be of female, hermaphrodite or male morphological types, sometimes changing at different stages of their lives, and all states can produce young. Despite this, there is no consistent evidence of sexual reproduction in Actinia equina. In any case, after she had been caught Granny lived alone in a cylindrical glass jar, apart from brief periods with her newly born offspring. Under Dalyell's care she produced 334 young in 23 years and then none until 1857 when 240 offspring were born in one night. Next, in 1872, there were 30 born in August and 9 more in December. After that, although she produced young in most years, the numbers declined. Although he was mystified how the embryos were being produced, Dalyell discovered that they developed for highly variable lengths of time in the gastrovascular cavity of the parent. Sometimes they moved temporarily into the parent's translucent tentacles where they could be more easily observed and they might also leave the parent's body cavity and return later. Ultimately, in a rare and brief event that was very difficult to observe, they were ejected individually or en masse out of the parent's internal cavity, in much the same way as for disgorging indigestible food matter. It was often said that Dalyell changed the sea water in the beadlet's jar every day and had his porter fetch new water from the sea at least three times a week but Dalyell's sister said that the water, which was carried in a 3 to 4 gallon (14–18-litre) earthenware jug, might often be changed twice a day. Later, M'Bain fed Granny on half a mussel once a month whereas Dalyell had supplied more frequent and varied meals. In 1861 John Harper wrote about her in detail, calling her by the name of Granny, and in 1866 Adam White produced a didactic story for children setting her life alongside events in world history. Professor D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson also wrote about her for children saying that when he was a boy he "knew her [...] well and intimately, and helped to feed her". He had also been allowed to keep some of her offspring from two generations.

Career Granny was not shown in public while she was in Dalyell's care but in 1859 James M'Bain took the beadlet to an Aberdeen meeting of the British Association and to the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Edinburgh in 1872. In 1878 he spoke at the 107th session of the Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh taking Granny and specimens of two generations of her young to show the audience. He said:

This celebrated specimen is well known in the world of science, as also to a wide circle of non-scientific friends; and a portion of its domestic life has been recorded by several eminent writers on natural history both at home and abroad. The familiar name of "Granny" has been conferred on it, to which it has long been well entitled... Near the start of Granny's career White had written in 1866 "An Austrian knight from Vienna paid his respects to Grannie in 1865, and has alluded to her in a learned paper printed in 'High Dutch'". From September 1879 Sadler maintained a visitors' book for Granny extending over nearly eight years – this had over a thousand signatories including the Lord High Commissioner to the Church of Scotland and "distinguished professors and travellers". In 1881, as part of the celebrations welcoming the appointment of a new Lord High Commissioner, Granny was introduced to Lord Aberdeen, and his wife Lady Aberdeen. D'Arcy Thompson gave the 1918 Royal Institution Christmas Lecture on the subject "The Fish of the Sea" and The Times reported that the hero of the lecture was Granny.

Death

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