Man uses hammer to free fish trapped in a frozen lake

A man in Sweden captured the moment he freed a school of fish trapped in a frozen lake.

Andreas Petersen was in the area in January when he noticed the perch fish stuck under the frozen, shallow, rocky water of a lake in Gavle. Peterson, a self-professed nature lover, wanted to give the aquatic creatures a chance to break free.

Petersen’s footage shows the surreal scene. The red-finned fish lay flat on the lake floor while Petersen uses a hammer to smash the icy surface surrounding each fish one-by-one. As the ice breaks the fish are able to turn and wriggle away. Eventually, each one swims off into deeper waters.

“I rescued the fish while they are small but when they get bigger, maybe I will catch them again when I’m fishing,” Petersen told Newsflare. “I’m happy because I was able to do something so simple to save them.”

Fish are cold-blooded creatures designed to adjust their body temperatures to their environments. This means when it gets super cold, they can slow their metabolism to where they need very little food and oxygen and don’t have to move much. Moreover, only the top layer of lakes freeze, leaving enough oxygen trapped under the ice for fish and other aquatic animals to breathe.

So it’s important to note these fish were not in danger of dying but they were indeed stuck. Now they can go back to doing what they do best: swim!

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