This incredible goldfish stunned his owners after surviving in the open air outside his tank — for SEVEN HOURS.
Carol Norris, 44, was upset to discover 13-year-old Mr Fish floating lifeless at the top of his tank when she came down to feed him at 7am last Saturday.
She was unable to find any sign of life so she removed his body from the tank, wrapped him in tissue paper and placed him in the dry bath tub away from the family’s five cats.
Carol and her partner Darren Bradnick, 40, then left home to do some shopping and did not return until 2pm that afternoon.
But when they returned Carol went to collect Mr Fish to bury him in the garden of their Cambridge home Darren heard a scream.
Miraculously Mr Fish, still shrouded in tissue, started to flip when Carol picked him and she quickly rushed him to the kitchen sink which she filled with a little water.
Carol and Darren stood over Mr Fish and watched as he gradually started to flip his fins and try to right himself in the water.
They left Mr Fish in a small bowl and wedged him into an upright position using a glass and then went out fearing that he might not still be alive when they returned.
But the incredible gold-and-silver fish measuring six inches, who had been out of water for seven hours, is now back in his tank and swimming around as he always did.
Carol, a catering assistant at a primary school, got the fright of her life when a mummified Mr Fish came back to life in her hands.
She said: ”I was really upset when I found him because we have had him for ages. Thirteen years is a long time.
”I had wrapped him up like a mummy and when I picked him up the tissue was all stuck to him and then he suddenly started moving.
”I screamed when he flipped in my hand. I was amazed but it was quite spooky – I don’t know if they go into a coma.
”When I get up in the morning I wonder whether he’s still alive but he’s a hard little fish. Apparently they can live up to 50 so he could be around for a while yet.”
Carol and Darren have lived together in Waterbeach for over 20 years and have a daughter together, Ammba (corr) Bradnick, 18, who is studying childcare.
Ammba won Mr Fish in a game of hook-a-duck at a fun fair when she was five and was devastated when Carol told her on Saturday morning that Mr Fish was not moving.
They brought Mr Fish home from the fair in a plastic bag and he has lived in a simple foot-long tank ever since and survived four other fish that have come and gone.
The family have had rabbits and hamsters and still have five cats but Mr Fish was their first ever pet.
Darren, a web designer, said: ”It’s amazing – he’s swimming around now in his tank as if nothing happened.
”We kept him in a small bowl after he came back to life because he was swimming lopsided but the next morning he was as strong as an ox.
”He’s a miracle – it’s just so lucky that Carol didn’t flush him down the loo straight away when she found him or he would have been a goner.
”We’ve been thinking about getting him a bigger tank for a while but we might actually do it now. I think he deserves it.”
