It all began many years ago when Japanese diver Hiroyuki Arakawa was sent to oversee the construction of a ‘torii’ — a Shinto holy shrine.
But this torii, which rests beneath the surface of Tateyama Bay in Japan, was unlike any other.
Hiroyuki had to dive periodically to verify 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 species that used to reside there.
Particularly a wrasse fish named Yoriko, with whom the diver has a wonderful connection.
It all began many years ago, when Hiroyuki Arakawa, a Japanese diver, was sent to oversee the construction of a ‘torii’, a Shinto sacred shrine. But this torii, which lies beneath the surface of Tateyama Bay in Japan, was not like any other.
Hiroyuki needed to dive often to monitor the site’s condition because of its spiritual significance. And after doing so for so long, the guy became acquainted with all of the aquatic species that had called the area home.
Specifically, a wrasse fish named Yoriko, with whom the diver has a wonderful friendship.
Even if it sounds strange, Hiroyuki and Yoriko get along quite well and won’t have the opportunity to see each 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 photos of human faces and trained them to pick one by spitting at it,” Dr. Cait Newport of Oxford University told CNN.
“The scientists decided to make things a little more difficult. They converted the images to black and white and smoothed out the head contours. That would seem to throw the fish for a loop.
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:
