Compartment 2

This hunk of coral, likely purchased by my grandfather Henry at some point in the late 1960s or or early 1970s, sat in the fishtank for years, and then spent decades in Henry’s basement workshop. It appears to be a dead specimen of blade fire coral, which my father Michael was stung by once on a trip to the Caribbean. It’s possible that Henry acquired it there or perhaps at the store Big Fish Little Fish in Somerville, which still exists.

In its heyday, 37GGE was full of animals – at its peak there were two dogs, two cats, gerbils, birds, and a saltwater fishtank with clownfish, anemones, shrimp, cowrie, blue damsels, etc. The fishtank was active from 1969 through 1982. The tank was cared for by the sons: my dad, Michael, and my uncles, Eric and Dan. The tank was kept in the basement of the house, where the boys played as children and smoked weed and listened to records with their friends as adolescents.

After 1982, the tank was decommissioned and sat empty in the basement. The coral hunk had an interesting look to it and Henry loved minerals and natural curiosities, so he kept the coral on the surface of his workshop bench, which he enjoyed using for small household projects. He would look at the coral from time to time and appreciate its form and texture.

The coral hunk has some very sharp rusty looking protuberances and a bluish hue on some of its folds and lumps.