How would you label this experience?

Question

I live at a small man-made lake. I noticed someone had left a pile of Bluegills just laying there to die.
I picked up one and ran it through the water backwards to get water running through it’s gills. After about 4 times of doing this, it gave a little shudder and swam away.
I did the same thing to the next five fish and they all shuddered and swam off once they were revived.
The last fish had to wait about 5 minutes from me spending so much time with the others before him, so it was pretty close to dead.
I ran him through the water backwards about 7 times and it wasn’t responding. I kept at it and finally it gave a slight shudder and swam off disappearing into the depths.
I stood up feeling good that I saved them but wasn’t too sure about the last one. I hung around feeling kind of good about helping them when I saw this one fish come slowly chugging along towards me.

It actually poked its head up, about an inch out of the water and really seemed to be addressing me. I guessed that it wanted some more help so I reached down expecting it to jump away from me, but it let me pick it up out of the water. I ran it backwards in the water another 4 or 5 times and then it gave a jolt and shot off like the others.

I think that last fish came back to where it knew I had helped it wanting me to help it some more.
I never felt like that before or since. It felt like what you would expect people try to reach meditating, where you are at a higher level of yourself or something like that.

Answer 1

extraordinary!you may be a healer...

Answer 2

First of all good work, every life is worth saving. I have worked at fish hatchery's here in Washington state and have a degree in aquaculture. Bluegill and many lake fish have the ability to gulp air at the surface. Water looses oxygen with temperature rise. Unless the lake is deep enough to have cold water at the bottom then fish will try to get air by gulping at the surface. Fish will even jump out of the water to get air. The only problem is that the gills will dry out and no longer pass oxygen. People think fish are stupid and can't think. This is not really true, they are smart enough to now when feeding time is and where they get the food. Some hatchery's have played with feeders triggered by fish tapping on a target. It is possibly that your fish got some extra oxygen from you moving it back and forth in the water , and came back for another hit of O2. Just remember to always wet your hands good before touching a fish, it's better for the fish. If you really want to make their day pump some air through an air stone a few feet under the water, until the weather cools down.

Answer 3

That is a nice story and you are a kind person to have spent the time to save these fish. It is difficult to watch any creature suffer, and you obviously have compassion for other living things.

Here's another perspective on the story though...
I lived near a farm that had a lake on it. The farmer told me that I could go to his lake anytime and fish with my family. He asked me one favor - if you catch a blue gill, don't throw it back. Eat it, throw it away, bring it somewhere else, or just leave it by the side of the pond. I couldn't believe he was serious, but he told me that the blue gill were over running the pond and that the population was eating all of the eggs and babies from the bass that were in the pond. He told me that in the past, he'd watched a pond become over run by blue gill, watched all of the plants die, and then saw all of the fish die. He was actually trying to save the life in the pond by eliminating the blue gill. Oh, and blue gill are not very good fish for eating.

I never really liked fishing anyway, but when I brought my dad to the pond, he would leave all of the blue gill on the shore and throw back any other fish that we caught. Eco-systems are complex. I'm glad you had an opportunity to do a good deed, but I wouldn't be quite so fast to cast disparaging remarks at somebody who left the fish on the banks of the pond. Sometimes the picture is bigger than we know.

Answer 4

How do you know someone left them there to die? Perhaps the blue gills swam to that location, just as the one had when it was returning to you.

I live near many small ponds and walk by them frequently. In the hot summer months when, I presume, there is a low oxygen supply in the water, there are fish swimming into the banks. They beach themselves and continue to swim. I'm not ichthyologist, but I imagine they're trying to find more water, more oxygen, more something else. Perhaps these blue gills were doing the same thing. That one came back to you because you were in between it and the bank of the pond, where you found it to begin with.

I don't know if this is the reason for what happened, but it's a possibility.

Answer 5

I believe that animals do have an affinity with us but only go there when they feel the right vibe. Apparently the fish felt you were an angel of mercy and set aside its natural instinct to avoid human contact.
I have fed wild cats when they were starving and they allowed me to touch them but as soon as they got their fill, they reverted back to wild animal and didnt stay like a pet.
It is that moment they transcend their programming and connect with you that is so fantastic.
Even if they connect with you for a minute, I believe you receive a special spiritual bonding that can not be replaced by any other feeling. It goes to a place in your soul that gets little attention. When this happens, it is a high far better than imaginable.
I know the feeling and I would label it spiritual.

Answer 6

What a wonderful story- you are a kind spirit, and the fish recognised that, and came back to you for more help. If you aren't currently involved with animals as a career, maybe you should be. You sound like a very caring, humane, person!

I would label this experience as extraordinary - you truly were communing with nature!

Answer 7

I would label it as AWESOME! What a kind (and knowledgable) person you are. I never would have known to move them backwards...I would have simply returned them to the water and prayed!
It's comforting to know there are people out there like you!
Now go find the J--k who left the fish in the first place and run him backwards in the water for a while!
God bless!

Answer 8

I think you did a fine thing and I am sure the fish was grateful. People often don't realise that other creatures have feelings too, even though you know about elephants mourning their dead and dogs mourning their late owners, etc. What a great experience! Hope you get a lot of luck for doing that!

Answer 9

I can't explain how or why it happened. All I can say is that you should carry this memory with you. You felt great joy in doing a simple good thing. We are all presented with opportunities to do good or evil; remember this experience the next time (and every time) such an opportunity presents itself.

Answer 10

That is an amazing interaction with the fish that seemed to come to you for help. I don't know if they have the intelligence to do that. But, we're learning more about fish, such as their ability to feel pain. They just don't express it the way mammals do.

Answer 11

Maybe it wanted to grant you 3 wishes, like that old fairy tale about the fisherman who catches the magic fish and lets it go. Maybe it was a magic fish.