This is one of several works by Paolozzi from the early 1950s which take fish, animal, and insect life as their subject matter. They were partly inspired by visits to London Zoo and its aquarium. Around this time, the Redfern Gallery had hit on a simple way of commissioning artist lithographs. The gallery sent dye transfer paper to the artists to work on, then the transfer paper was sent to Millers Press, a small lithography studio in Sussex, to be printed. Both this print and Composition (1951) were produced in this way.