Seemingly 'dead' fish shows signs of life too late to stop flushing

KERNERSVILLE, N.C., Dec. 5 (UPI) -- A North Carolina woman's former pet fish is going viral after a video showed the apparently "dead" animal coming back to life in the toilet.

Brooke Essick, 18, of Kernersville, said she was transplanting her pet fish, Dane, into a new bowl last week when the fish's life seemed to expire.

"We had planned to just simply change Dane's water," Essick told WGHP-TV. "But that quickly changed when Dane 'died' while being put in his new bowl with freshly changed water."

A video posted to Twitter by Essick's friend, Macy Carmichael, shows Essick place Dane in the toilet, where the seemingly dead fish starts to swim just before being flushed.

"As soon as I hit the flush button, Dane began to swim again," she said. "But... it was too late."

Some Twitter users criticized Essick for prematurely flushing Dane, while others expressed admiration for the fish's Finding Nemo style escape plan.

"He was a great fish," Essick said. "He lived a happy year!"