Aquarium staff finds brilliant way to cheer up a lonely sunfish that misses human interaction

When you get into the rhythm of meeting someone regularly, they become such an integral part of your life that a day without them feels incomplete. And just like humans, animals too have emotions. Similarly, a sunfish at the Kaikyokan Aquarium in Japan started showing signs of distress when the facility was closed temporarily for renovations. Understanding that the "lonely" sunfish was missing human interaction, the staff members came up with a brilliant idea to cheer it up. Indy100 reported that the sunfish which weighed around 28kg suddenly stopped eating food and began rubbing its body against the tank when visitors stopped coming. 

At first, the staff believed that the sunfish had some digestion or parasite-related health issues until someone pointed out that the behavioral change might be because of the absence of visitors. To make the sunfish feel at ease, the staff members put up large cardboard cut-outs of human-like figures in front of the tank. Surprisingly, just after a day of putting those cut-outs, the sunfish began eating normally. Mai Kato, a female staff member at the aquarium shared, "It’s curious and would swim up to visitors when they approached the tank." Further, she requested people to visit the sunfish once the renovation work is completed. Kato said, "I hope many people take interest in the sunfish and when the renovation work is finished, I would like visitors to wave to it in front of the tank.” Meanwhile, the Kaikyokan Aquarium (@shimonoseki_aq on X) posted a picture depicting their amazing solution for the sunfish which received an overwhelming response on social media.

Reacting to the picture, @stu48go commented, "I read an article once about how during the COVID-19 pandemic, some aquarium fish became depressed because they were too unstimulated." Similarly, @g14c_10 commented, "I remember a story about a garden eel at an aquarium who became depressed because there were no customers during the COVID-19 self-restraint period." @rinchandayo wrote, "I love the sunfish, It came from Kochi last February! I didn't know that the sunfish were friendly. I'm relieved that it can now eat its favorite food, jellyfish. It's all thanks to the keepers who watch over it and take care of it. I'm looking forward to the reopening this summer I'm going to go see the sunfish."

On the other hand, @volunteer_choir wrote, "Rather than coming to the conclusion that they cannot survive without humans, I think it must be hard for them to be confined in such a small space and they cannot survive without something to see. Please release them back into the sea. I want to get rid of the excuse that it is okay to sacrifice animals for the good of 'It's for research.'" @byju88 wrote, "I am curious to see how the sunfish are doing even though the museum is closed! I'm looking forward to seeing what they will be like I am curious, so I want to know more information soon!" @kptafDdxAxdSvSj commented, "Sunfish are very delicate. But if you stick them in the same place for a long time, won't you notice that they're not moving at all and think, 'Oh, they're fake?'"

You can follow Kaikyokan Aquarium (@shimonoseki_aq) on X (formerly called Twitter) for more updates on marine life.