For Over 25 years, A Japanese Diver Has Come To See His Best Friend Fish

While we’re used to seeing humans interact with dogs, cats, and farm animals, this odd friendship between a diver and a fish has everyone baffled. And, as if that wasn’t strange enough, these two odd pals have been sharing this special bond for almost 25 years, according to daily-cuteness.

It all started many years ago, when Japanese diver Hiroyuki Arakawa was sent to watch the construction of a torii – a Shinto sacred shrine. But this ‘torii’, which lies beneath the surface of Tateyama Bay in Japan, was unlike any other. Hiroyuki had to dive often to assess the site’s condition because of its spiritual significance. And after doing so for so long, the guy came to know all of the aquatic animals that used to reside there. Particularly a wrasse fish named Yoriko, with whom the diver has a wonderful connection.

Even if it sounds strange, Hiroyuki and Yoriko get along really well and will not have the opportunity to see one other again. And, as strange as a relationship between a person and a fish may seem, science appears to have an answer for it. Fishes were discovered to be able to recognize human faces.

“Scientists showed the fish two pictures of human faces and trained them to pick one by spitting their jets at it,” said Dr. Cait Newport of Oxford University. “The scientists decided to make things a bit more difficult. They converted the images to black and white and smoothed out the head features. You’d think that would catch the fish off guard. But no, they were able to correctly identify the familiar face with an accuracy of 86 percent.” Here’s where you can learn more about this strange friendship: