Were surrounded by fish and were clearly frightened (7)

I believe the answer is:

cowered

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'were clearly frightened' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.

'were surrounded by fish' is the wordplay.
'surrounded by' is an insertion indicator.
'fish' becomes 'cod' (type of fish).
'were' placed into 'cod' is 'COWERED'.

'and' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for cowered that I've seen before include "Showed fear" , "Cringed" , "looked fearful" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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