“I knew that fish needed help.”
A group of professional divers were recently out exploring Catalina Island off the coast of California when a giant sea bass swam past them. The divers were excited to see such a rare animal, but their excitement faded when they noticed the giant sea bass had a smaller fish stuck in their mouth.
Concerned, the divers brought this up to Bleu World, an ocean conservation nonprofit based on Catalina Island. Bleu World was already planning on going out to record ocean wildlife that day, so they agreed to keep an eye out for the giant sea bass in trouble.
A group of Bleu World divers set out on an underwater expedition to find and save the fish. As soon as they located the giant sea bass, the huge fish approached them.
“I don’t like to give animals human feelings and behavior, but it kind of seemed like it wanted help,” Kayla Feairheller, founder and president of Bleu World, told The Dodo. “It was moving closer to me … It would actually move the fish tail up to my hand as if it wanted me to pull it.”
At that point, Feairheller and the other divers knew something was really wrong. The fish had been stuck in the giant sea bass’s mouth for a whole week, and it was clear the bass hadn’t been able to eat that entire time.
Unfortunately, Feairheller had to surface to refill her scuba tank before she was able to rescue the giant sea bass. Even back on dry land, she couldn’t stop thinking about the fish.
“I knew that fish needed help, and it was heartbreaking to have to swim away,” Feairheller said.
It’s painful to see any animal struggling, but for an animal as rare as a giant sea bass, it’s especially upsetting. Giant sea bass are considered critically endangered. In a UCSB thesis project with Spotting Giant Sea Bass, a researcher named Andrew Pettit determined that there are only 1,200 giant sea bass left in Southern California.
Later that day, Feairheller and the other members of the team headed back down, more determined than ever to save the giant sea bass. This time, she was able to grab onto the smaller fish’s tail and dislodge it. Once the fish was no longer stuck, the giant sea bass was able to fully shake it from their throat.
Feairheller was overjoyed that they’d managed to save the giant sea bass. You can watch the whole rescue journey, captured on video by Reggie Farr, here:
https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7410246303101373727?lang=en-US&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thedodo.com%2Fdaily-dodo%2Fdivers-swim-past-endangered-giant-then-realize-somethings-wrong
“I was so excited. I just remember having full-body chills for the rest of my dive … I couldn’t believe that that had just happened,” Feairheller said.
Given giant sea bass’ critically endangered status, Bleu World saving even just one makes a huge difference. Thanks to Feairheller’s efforts, an animal who really needed it got a second chance.