Bizarre/Suicidal Clown Death

I keep coming back to look at these pics and I'm totaly baffeled my this.

 

They can and will go through your pump without being shredded. I used to have mollies in my sump and had some that were 3/8" long and imagine my surprise when I found about a dozen of them in the main display when the foam screen fell off the pump in my return. I even found a couple in another tank fed by a a powerhead so that meant they had to go through one pump and a powerhead to get there.
I'm sure some were killed in the process but they would have been eaten for sure.