The strangest of friendships has existed for nearly 25 years between this Japanese diver and the enormous fish he saved!

Hiroyuki Arakawa and Yoriko met many years ago via their shared love of the water. Atorii, a 79-year-old diver, has been given the responsibility of overseeing a torii, a Shinto shrine that is considered sacred. But because it is situated beneath Tateyama Bay in Japan, this one is arguably more significant.

Arakawa had to dive nearly every day to examine the site since it was a sacred spot for the Japanese people and because he understood how important his task was.

But little did the diver know that he will meet a great friend down deep in the sea. One day he was diving, Arakawa spotted an Asian sheepshead wrasse struggling to swim.

The man immediately realized something might be wrong with the giant fish, so he decided to help her out, hoping she’ll recover. For nearly to weeks, the kindhearted diver brought crabs to the sick fish and that help Yoriko – how he named her – to fully recover.

The fish never forgot how Arakawa rescued their friend’s life and honored him by bestowing onto him the most wonderful friendship between a human and a marine animal. After meeting one other more than 25 years ago, they are still the best of friends.

The diver said, “I think it’s because there’s a sense of trust between us. “I assume she is aware that I saved her… that I assisted her when she was seriously hurt. I am happy that I was able to do it. I feel tremendous pride in my accomplishments.

“I’m the only one she’ll allow kiss her since I did it once!”

Although it appears to be practically impossible, there may be a reason for Arakawa and Yoriko’s bond. It appears that the fish are capable of identifying human faces.

According to Dr. Cait Newport from Oxford University for CNN, “scientists educated the fish to pick one by spitting their jets towards that photo.” The fish were shown two images of human faces. The researchers made the decision to increase the difficulty.

The head contours were evened out and the images were converted to black and white. You’d think the fish would become confused by it. But no, they were still able to identify the familiar face, and with more accuracy: 86%!

In the video below, learn more about this special bond!