Aquarium won’t have real visitors for several months, but in the meantime this fish has some cardboard ones.

In December, the Kaiyokan aquarium in the city of Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, shut down for renovation work. It looks to be a fairly extensive project, as the facility won’t be reopening until sometimes this summer.

While there are no guests coming into the Kaiyokan, the aquatic inhabitants are still there, including the aquarium’s ocean sunfish/Mola mola. However, shortly after the facility closed, the staff noticed that the sunfish had become lethargic, eating less of its food and rubbing its body against the glass of its tank. The caretakers put their heads together, and one of them came up with a very unusual idea…

…hanging clothing and pictures of people’s faces in front of the enclosure, to make it seem like guests were coming to the aquarium as usual.

As a bit of background, this sunfish is one of the most popular residents of the Kaiyokan. Sunfish in general are much-loved in Japan (they’ve got a mix of cuteness and goofiness to their appearance that’s not unlike a Shiba dog), and the Kaiyokan’s is particularly well-known thanks to going viral in a social media post in which it swallowed a jellyfish it was being fed in a single gulp.

So as the aquarium discussed what could be bothering the animal, one member of the staff offered the theory that the sunfish was perhaps feeling lonely after the sudden disappearance of visitors. After all, while not necessarily something that all sunfish do, the Kaiyokan’s had made a habit of swimming over to the glass and contentedly hanging out there when crowds gathered.

With that in mind, the aquarium whipped up some cardboard masks with photos of employees’ faces on them and positioned jackets on hangers right underneath them, as shown in the video below.

▼ They’re sort of like scarecrows, except the goal is to make the sunfish feel at ease, not frighten it.

Sure enough, the very next day after the gallery of fake visitors was involved, the sunfish’s spirits started to pick up, and it’s gotten progressively more energetic since, with its appetite increasing too.

It’s somewhat unclear if the ultimate conclusion here is that the sunfish missed seeing people or simply that it was troubled by an observable change in its surrounding environment. Either way, though, it’s good to see the animal recovering. Moe Miyazawa, the biologist in charge of the aquarium’s sunfish and its enclosure, says that it’s not quite back up to 100 percent yet, but that the staff will be continuing to do what it can to make the animal happy and healthy, and she hopes that it will have made a full recovery by the time the aquarium reopens.

Source: NHK News Web, CNN via Livedoor News via Hachima Kiko
Top image: Pakutaso
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