Animal in a meteoric rise (3)
I believe the answer is:
roe
'animal' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'in a meteoric rise' is the wordplay.
'in' indicates a hidden word.
'rise' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'eor' is hidden within 'meteoric'.
'eor' written backwards gives 'ROE'.
(Other definitions for roe that I've seen before include "Part of fish, sounds like go through water" , "Swift runner" , "eg Caviare" , "Food from fish" , "Caviar" .)