person or thing in imminent danger; fish on the chopping board
A classical metaphor for someone or something in a desperate, life-threatening situation, like a fish in a drying puddle. Extremely rare in modern Japanese; encountered mainly in literary or historical texts.
To rescue someone from imminent danger (literally, to save a fish in a drying rut).
From the Chinese allusion 涸轍之鮒, “a crucian carp in a dried wheel rut,” in the 『荘子』. The stranded fish symbolizes someone in immediate and desperate danger.