Sandy's floods left fish in New Jersey man's pool

BELMAR, N.J., April 16 (UPI) -- A New Jersey man said the floodwaters of Hurricane Sandy left something unusual in his in-ground pool -- a tiny school of live fish.

Robert Castellano said his Belmar neighborhood was flooded for several days following the October storm, with 3 feet of water in his back yard, and when he pulled the cover from his in-ground pool this month he discovered a school of about 15 fish living in the water, the Asbury Park (N.J.) Press reported Tuesday.

"I don't know how they got under the cover," Castellano said. "When the water was on top of the pool, it may have lifted the edges. Some are so small, they may have been just eggs. Or born in here.

"They're very quick," he said. "I don't know what they've been eating, probably the algae. To survive in this water they have to have one heck of a will to live."

Bob Mathews of the Fishermen's Den tackle shop identified the fish.

"It looks like it's a white perch," Mathews said. "They're slightly anadromous fish -- they can live in fresh and brackish water."