Fish, confused, bled out (3)
I believe the answer is:
gar
'fish' is the definition.
(type of gar)
'confused bled out' is the wordplay.
'confused' becomes 'garbled' (as in a garbled message).
'out' indicates named letters should be taken away.
'garbled' with 'bled' taken away is 'GAR'.
(Other definitions for gar that I've seen before include "Pike-like fish" , "Creature" , "something fishy here" , "A fish; cloth scrap (reversed)" , "Type of fish" .)