Over 200 hundred years ago in 1794, Ralph Beilby, engraver and business partner of Thomas Bewick presented to the Literary & Philosophical Society a letter describing a creature never seen before by science washed ashore off the North East coast. The original letter including a colourful description and an extraordinary watercolour of the fish resides in the Lit. & Phil. archives to this day.

In commemoration of the discovery and in celebration of the spirit of the Literary & Philosophical Society, a life-sized version of the Ribbon Fish was proposed and commissioned for the underside of the 24ft "Long Table".