When the Kaikyokan Aquarium in Shimonoseki, Japan, temporarily closed for renovations late last year, the staff noticed one of their most popular residents was not doing well. A beloved ocean sunfish had stopped eating and started exhibiting strange behaviors, and no one could figure out why. After exhausting the usual medical explanations, a staff member floated a wild theory.
“Maybe it’s lonely because it misses the visitors?” they suggested, according to a post on the aquarium's X account.
It seemed far-fetched, but the team was desperate. In a stroke of creative genius, they dressed up hangers in aquarium uniforms, added cardboard cutout faces, and placed these makeshift "people" around the sunfish's tank to simulate the crowds it was used to.
The result was immediate and astounding. “Then…the next day, it was in good health again!” the aquarium announced.
The story, reported by the Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun, explained that the sunfish, known for being particularly curious and interactive with guests, had become so distressed it started rubbing against the sides of its tank. The staff's creative solution wasn't just a lucky guess; it was an act of empathetic animal care that resonated with people online.
As one Reddit user, u/eternalityLP, noted, "People often talk about enrichment with all the cute animals but things like fish are often forgotten."
A Japanese sunfish swims in a an aquariumCanva
This isn't the first time a Japanese aquarium has found an innovative way to meet the social needs of its animals. During the 2020 lockdown, Tokyo’s Sumida Aquarium famously asked the public to FaceTime its shy garden eels, which had become withdrawn without daily visitors.
The Kaikyokan Aquarium’s simple, heartfelt solution not only nursed its gentle giant back to health but also sparked a wider conversation about the complex emotional lives of all creatures, big and small.
This article originally appeared earlier this year. It has been updated.
A fast food employee hands over a bag of food to a drive-thru customerCanva
Gif of Ronald McDonald losing his hat via 
A fancy turkey dinnerCanva
Whitney Carpenter with a patient in one of her custom port shirtsAtrium Health 
People chat on a video callCanva
A parked school busCanva
A woman relaxes in the woodsCanva
A neuroscientist studies brain scansCanva
Gif of someone saying "I'm okay. I can do it" via 
Man laying sodCanva
A firefighter rolls up a water hoseCanva
A group of people jumping for joy at the beach during sunsetCanva
two young children play by the water at the beach during sunsetCanva