A woman sustained injuries in her head while trying to help a marlin fish that had beached itself at Coral Bay Beach in Perth, Australia. However, she didn't mind the cut and noticed the pain only after the fish was released into the sea.
The rescue footage was shared on Facebook by 1 journey 1 Life 2 People on March 19.
The woman, Unnalise Radley, said she was filming the fish. However, it suddenly started swimming towards the shore. "It was feeding then swam quickly to the shore and beached itself," said Radley, according to Perth Now.
Radley also said she had shouted for help but no one came forward. She then took it upon herself and ditched her phone, ran across the beach, and started dragging the marlin towards the sea. Later, two bystanders also offered help.
Marlin fish is a close relative of the swordfish and has an elongated body and a spear-like snout.
However, not every fish that beaches itself is this lucky! On March 23, nearly 150 beached pilot whales died after mass stranding in Australia. Most of them were dead by the time a fisherman noticed the stranded whales at about 6 am. Several nearby beaches were closed after the authorities were alerted about the incident.
Scientists are yet to ascertain the reason behind the incident. It is believed that pilot whales are vulnerable to loud human-made sounds like navy sonar, reported Live Science, citing the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Though the argument is yet to be proved, several beaching incidents have happened when there has been high human-made noise in the environment, reported the website, citing a 2006 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report.
For instance, several whales beached themselves when there was a large-scale military exercise around Taiwan in 2004, according to the IUCN report. But again, whether the beaching was related to the exercises remains debatable.
