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.

The divers expressed their concern to Bleu World, which is an ocean conservation nonprofit situated on Catalina Island. Serendipitously, Bleu World had scheduled a trip to document marine life that day. They willingly offered to monitor the situation and keep an eye out for the distressed giant sea bass.

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.”

Feairheller and divers noticed an issue when a fish was stuck in a giant sea bass’s mouth for a week, preventing the bass from eating.

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.

During a research project at UCSB focusing on the observation of Giant Sea Bass, a researcher known as Andrew Pettit concluded that the population of giant sea bass in Southern California is estimated to be only 1,200 individuals.

“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.