Rats uncovered the fish (5)
I believe the answer is:
heels
'rats' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being plural nouns.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?
'uncovered the fish' is the wordplay.
'uncovered' says to take the centre.
'fish' becomes 'eels' (eel is a type of fish).
The middle letter of 'the' is 'h'.
'h'+'eels'='HEELS'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for heels that I've seen before include "leans to one side" , "despicable people" , "Backs of the feet" , "Dastardly types" , "Parts of shoes" .)