Mike Reeves had the shock of his life when we took the previous day’s catch, a turbot, out of his fridge to cook for his lunch.
As he washed the fish off under the cold water tap its gills started working and then it started to wriggle.
The fish had been caught 15 hours previously and placed in a fridge soon after.
Experts reckon the fish survived due to the cold conditions slowing down the fish’s metabolism enough to keep it alive – a kind of suspended animation.
Mike, 66, couldn’t face killing the fish after such an ordeal, so he donated it to the Blue Reef Aquarium in Portsmouth, Hants, where it is sure to become a star attraction.
Mike caught the flatfish, now nicknamed Herbert the Turbot, whilst night fishing at Hengistbury Head, near Christchurch, Dorset.
