Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Fish skeleton tattoo on the inner ear

Fine line · Other · Black and grey · Photo

A close-up of an ear with a fish skeleton tattoo across the inner ear. The black linework is thin and simple, outlining the head, spine, ribs and tail fin without shading. The ink is black only and sits against pink skin, with a turquoise stud and a shell stud earring in the lobe.

Fine line Other Fish

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Take it to an artist as a reference. A good artist will make it yours rather than copy someone else's tattoo.

A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Nell, the gulls have been at the bins again, so I'm writing this on the back of Dad's tide table because the good paper went to the chandler. You'll not believe what came up in Uncle Tom's pot on Tuesday: a herring, or what the crabs had left of one, picked so clean it looked drawn. Every rib was there, the spine running neat as a zip, the tail fanned out like it was still deciding which way to go.

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I took it home in a jam jar. Mrs Pascoe at the net loft says bones like that are a sign, and I told her the only sign the sea ever gave me was a bill for new tackle. Tom wanted it chucked back over the wall. I put it on the windowsill above the sink instead, where the light comes through green off the harbour and lies on the draining board in long wavy stripes.

The odd thing is the boy from the Penrose place came by on Wednesday asking after Mam's blue dish, the one with the chip out of the rim. He had a look at the jar while I was fetching it down, and he went very quiet and said his nan used to pin pictures of fish bones on her kitchen wall to keep the storms off. I said I didn't know we had storms that needed keeping off. He said everyone has them, they just come in different sizes.

He left the dish back on Friday, mended with gold, and no money for it. The jar's still on the sill. I've not thrown it out, and I don't think I'm going to, so come at Christmas and see it for yourself.

Love, Jen