Alas, Bubbles

You were named after the Finding Nemo character
The yellow tang from Australia
As you were both the same species
Where he liked bubbles, hence your name
You liked swimming at the front of the big tank
Whose clear face was frequently algae’d

The other fish seemed to ignore you
You were alone, the clownfish and the blue fish
Had their pairs
But you, like the giant grey brittle-star that I term
The Kraken
Were single, on your own alienated, by yourself

You were see-through, most days
Not your personality, but your electric yellow body
We could see the gravel in your belly
And remarked that it was creepy, weird

It was strange, one day
When your folded crest sprung up overnight
The one beneath your tail too
We wondered if you were sick or feeling amorous
We joked that you were gay

The research I did turned up nothing
And you soon returned to normal
Your crests folded against your body
We thought you fine, and that it was a stroppy phase

We came back to college after the February half-term
You were absent from the tank
We thought that maybe you were hiding behind
The black rocks that are the scenery

Gradually your stripy friends emerged from the gloom
A splotch of orange here, a blue blur there
However, you did not

It was James who finally noticed you
He though you were a tissue that was floating by
Only then did he realise that it was you, Bubbles
Dead, and cannibalised by your neighbours

Some people were squeamish, nauseated
Others, like he who found you, were morbid
My friend and I chorused “We told you he was ill!”
Sir looked upset, and he fished you out
When the class refused to concentrate or be quiet

You were just scales and bones with one eye
And you met an ignoble disposal
In the cubby hole between classrooms

You were the only yellow tang in that tank
The colour in the dark dullness
Of the geology aquarium

RIP Bubbles, ??-19/2/2007