Japanese scuba diver has 25-year friendship with a fish

Scuba diver Hiroyuki Arakawa and Yoriko are the unlikeliest of friends.

Japan’s Tateyama Bay is home to a lifelong friendship – between a local diver and a fish named Yoriko.

The diver, Hiroyuki Arakawa, has long served as the caretaker for an underwater Shinto shrine, and it is through these dives that he met Yoriko, an Asian sheepshead wrasse, over 25 years ago.

One day, Arakawa found her looking exhausted and carrying an injury. So he did what any friend would do: he took care of Yoriko, feeding her crabs and nursing her back to health.

He calls the fish, named Yoriko, by hitting a bell on the underwater shrine.

The pair’s relationship soon blossomed into a full-blown friendship. Now, whenever Arakawa visits the shrine, he need only knock on a piece of a metal, and Yoriko immediately speeds over.

In the video, Arakawa can be seen kissing Yoriko. His Facebook page is also full of selfies of the unlikely duo.

Their decades-long friendship is proof there’s no greater bond than the one between man and fish.

However, these human-fish friendships do not appear to be limited to Arakawa. A group of fisherman has also developed a relationship with local whale sharks.