Japan aquarium cheers up lonely sunfish by taping photos of human faces to its tank

Staff had noticed that the sunfish was showing signs of distress after the aquarium was closed for refurbishment

A sunfish. Staff at an aquarium in Japan taped cut-outs of human faces to the window of a lonely sunfish’s tank after it appeared to become distressed when the building closed for refurbishment. Photo: Nick Pfeiffer

Do fish get lonely? Apparently so, according to staff at an aquarium in Japan, who have provided cut-out human companions for a solitary sunfish they noticed had started to look unwell.

The fish had started to look out of sorts soon after the aquarium, in the western city of Shimonoseki, closed for refurbishment in December. The animal, which weighed almost 28kg when it was brought to Kaikyokan almost a year ago, suddenly stopped eating jellyfish and started rubbing its body against the side of the tank.