‘Lonely’ Sunfish Comforted by Cardboard Cutouts of People After Aquarium Closes Due to Renovations
The aquarium noted, “We didn't know the cause [of the fish feeling unwell] ... but one of the staff members said, ‘Maybe he's lonely without the visitors?’ "
An aquarium in Japan is getting creative when it comes to cheering up its fish!
The Kaikyokan Aquarium in Shimonoseki, Japan, which is closed as it undergoes renovations, revealed in a post on X that its staff had to think out of the box to help one of its sunfish struggling with the change.
“[The sunfish] was feeling a little unwell right after the closure,” the aquarium further noted in a translated post on X.
The sunfish stopped eating its jellyfish meals and began to rub its body against the tank, according to a report by Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun, per CNN. At first, staff suspected that the sunfish had developed digestive issues or was infected by parasites, but then they began to consider other reasons.
\\休館中のマンボウの様子をお届けします！！！//
マンボウの様子が気になる方も多いのではないでしょうか。
実は・・・！？
(コメントに続く) pic.twitter.com/SXEtgk304M— しものせき水族館「海響館」公式 (@shimonoseki_aq) January 3, 2025
The aquarium noted on X, “We didn't know the cause and tried various things to deal with it, but one of the staff members said, ‘Maybe he's lonely without the visitors?' ”
This prompted the staff to print some cardboard cutouts of visitors to stick onto the aquarium glass to make it look like people were watching the fish. They also used staff uniforms, which they taped beneath the faces. The facility shared a photo of the scene on X, along with the fish, who appeared to be comforted by the fake visitors’ presence.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Jam Press
An aquarium with staff photos on a tank to cheer up a lonely Sunfish at the Kaikyokan Aquarium in Shimonoseki Japan“And then ... the next day, [the sunfish] felt better!” the aquarium said in a translated post. “Recently, it has been [swimming] in front of the tank and waving its [fins], so it seems to be in good health again!”
“Honestly, [we] can't believe it,” the aquarium continued. “But the one currently on display is very curious and would come over [to the glass] when there were visitors, so it may have been in poor health when [the visitors] suddenly disappeared.”
Related: Scientists Confirm How Japanese Eels Escape a Predator Fish's Stomach After Being Eaten
The aquarium noted on its website that the renovations began on Dec. 1, 2024, and that the sunfish tank, as well as the other fish tanks, were scheduled to reopen in six months around summer 2025.
According to National Geographic, sunfish "are harmless to people" and "can be very curious." It noted that in the wild, the creatures "will often approach divers" and that the sunfish population is considered "vulnerable" as they can get caught in "drift gill nets."
The Kaikyokan Aquarium isn’t the first aquarium in Japan to use alternative methods to keep the fish happy. Tokyo’s Sumida Aquarium came up with a similar solution to keep its 300 spotted garden eels active during the Covid lockdown in 2020 when they asked for volunteers to FaceTime the creatures and encourage them to come out of their hiding places in the tank, per CNN.
Read the original article on People
