The incredible friendship between a diver and the giant fish he nursed back to health
For over 25 years, this Japanese diver and the giant fish he nursed back to health share the most unlikely friendship of all!
It was the love for the sea that brought Hiroyuki Arakawa and Yoriko together many years ago. A sacred shrine that belongs to the Shinto religion has been supervised by a 79-year-old diver. This one is even more important because it is located beneath Tateyama Bay in Japan. A sacred place for the Japanese people, Arakawa was aware of the importance of his mission, so he had to dive almost daily in order to check the site.
The diver didn’t know that he would meet a friend down deep in the sea. Arakawa spotted the Asian sheepshead wrasse struggling to swim while diving. The man decided to help her out after he realized that something might be wrong with the giant fish. Yoriko was named after the kindhearted diver who brought crabs to the sick fish to help her recover.
The fish didn’t forget that Arakawa saved her life, and rewarded him with the most incredible friendship a human being and a marine creature could ever share. After 25 years after they first met, they are still the best of friends.
“I think she knows that I saved her when she was badly injured, because there is a sense of trust between us”, according to the diver. I am proud of myself for being able to do that. I have a wonderful sense of accomplishment in my heart.
“I kissed her once and I’m the only person she’ll let do it!”
There might be an explanation for the friendship between Arakawa and Yoriko, even though it sounds impossible. Apparently, The fish are able to recognize human faces.
“Scientists presented the fish with two images of human faces and trained them to choose one by spitting their jets at that picture,” Dr. Cait Newport from Oxford University explained for CNN. “The researchers decided to make things a little harder. They took the pictures and made them black and white and evened out the head shapes. You’d think that would throw the fish for a loop. But no, they were able to pick the familiar face even then – and with more accuracy: 86%!”