Why does the Torah refer to "all that was on dry land"?
Rashi: Because the fish did not perish. 1
QUESTIONS ON RASHI
Rashi writes: "'Nishmas Ruach Chayim'" means "Neshimah" - "the breath of life." What alternate explanation is Rashi trying to exclude?
Gur Aryeh: At their creation, animals are described as possessing a Nefesh (1:20, 24), whereas the term Neshamah is unique to man alone (2:7). In this verse, which refers to animals as well, "Nishmas" must therefore mean "breath."
Rashi writes: "This excludes the fish of the sea." Why were the fish spared?
Mizrachi: They had not corrupted their ways. 1
Maharal #1 (Chidushei Agados Vol. 3, p. 214, to Sanhedrin 98a): Fish do not represent the climax of Creation (therefore, they cannot produce sound, they do not require Shechitah, and their habitation is removed from that of man). The more an item is complete, the more liable it is to become ruined. Therefore, in the Flood, man was destroyed first, then the animals, whereas the fish were not destroyed at all. Refer to 7:23:1.2:1.
Maharal #2 (Chidushei Agados Vol. 2, p. 131, to Kidushin 13a): Water is the natural habitat of fish, and therefore they were not destroyed. 2
Gur Aryeh adds that it was man who caused the land animals to become corrupt (Refer to 6:12:1.1:3); but man could not influence the fish, which live in a different realm. See also Maharal, Chidushei Agados (Vol. 4, p. 70, to Zevachim 113).
Maharal continues that man was to be punished in water (refer to 6:17:1.1:2; refer to 7:11:3.1:4), due to his failure to meet the higher standards expected of him, whereas fish by nature belong to water. (EK)
