Alas, poor Phyl. I knew him well.

Phyl was never a very lovable phish. He didn't huff and puff up when a mirror was held up to the outside of his glass realm as his predecessor did. He mostly just lay around in a mopish fashion. Not a very demonstrable beta phish.

Well, he went from sedate to absolutely immobile over the past few weeks - refusing to eat and laying either on the bottom or tucking himself into the roots of the plant that shares the top part of his world. Finally, today, I plucked the plant out taking a deceased looking Phyl with it.

A grasp of the tail, a query and a shake. "Phyl, are you still with us?" Nothing. OK, so off to the burial ground around the corner just as my son came up the stairs. "What are you doing?" says he. "Say goodbye to Phyl" says I as I quickly dropped him into his porcelain casket and sent him down the river Styx.

But wait - was that a wiggle?