Surely you don’t know what a Semicossyphus reticulatus is. Almost nobody knows. In fact, it is very difficult to find complete information about this species on the Internet. We know that they are marine animals that live at the bottom of the ocean, they can measure up to 100 centimeters and weigh up to 14.7 kilograms. They inhabit the regions near Japan, South Korea, and the South China Sea.
But Hiroyuki Arakawa knows it very well: he may be the man who knows the most about a Semicossyphus on Earth. It is that he and Yoriko, a specimen of this species, have been best friends since 1987. More than 30 years ago this Japanese diver helped the strange fish to survive when it was in trouble, and since then he has visited it at least once a year , and every time you can.
Hiroyuki, now 79, has been diving since he was 18. A little over 30 years ago, he was doing maintenance on the remains of a submerged Shinto shrine when he first saw Yoriko in trouble.
The man saw the fish while it was doing its job and noted that it was sick, or perhaps trapped, and possibly had not fed for a while. “I was there, exhausted; he couldn’t even search for food. I fed him five crabs a day for ten days and he got better,” Hiroyuki told The Dodo portal.
Since then they have had a friendly relationship. “I would say that we understand each other. It’s not like we can talk, it happens naturally,” she explains.
Hiroyuki meets Yoriko periodically, at least once a year, in Tateyama Bay, in eastern Japan. The fish is always waiting for him there.
He not only visits the fish, but plays with it, practically treating it like a pet. He is aware that friendship between a man and such an animal is rare, but it has always been natural between them. “I think anyone can get an animal’s attention by giving it food, but touching and interacting with it is more complicated.”
Having saved Yoriko is, according to Hiroyuki, one of the best things he has done in his life “It seems to me that there is a kind of trust between us. I would say that he knows that I saved him, that I helped him when he needed it. I am proud of have done it”.