Rachel has been diving for 60 years and has gone on over 2,000 dives.
But she has never met a fish as strange as Sonny.
The first time she met Sonny during a dive in Mo’orea, she was struck by how unusual it was for a wild animal to approach a human.
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“This little fish just comes straight at me,” Rachel told The Dodo. “He was super friendly. So, I was like, ‘Oh, maybe this fish is just coming, looking to be fed or something.'”
Things got even weirder after that. The little yellow fish decided to give Rachel and her husband a tour of the reef.
He even took them to see a sleeping turtle and an eel.
“I just assumed it was a weird experience. A couple of weeks later we went diving and there he was,” Rachel said.
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Rachel’s husband didn’t believe it was the same fish. But it was undisputable since Sonny has unique markings that include a big yellow dot on the center of his forehead.
He’s also a little bigger than the other butterflyfish.
Since then, Rachel has gone on about 60 dives where Sonny comes to greet her.
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“He’ll always come and say hello and it’s the cutest thing. I wave to him and I talk through the water. It’s crazy, I know. As soon as he sees the hand motion or the wave, he gets excited and will come. I think he just likes the interaction. I can’t explain why but it seems whenever I call to him, he recognizes that it’s me and so he’ll come and say hi. He shakes so much. He looks like an excited puppy.”
Rachel (and the rest of us for that matter) was surprised that a wild fish was capable of that kind of relationship with a human.
He willfully chooses to interact with her.
She doesn’t have to force it or chase after him or even feed him. Sonny has even taken to bringing Rachel presents.
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Rachel noticed that Sonny was doing a strange dance near the reef one day and followed him.
He kept staying right next to her hand.
Eventually, she realized he was showing her a shell.
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“I hold up it and he comes and looks at it and I’m like am I crazy or is this fish actually learning what I like and showing me the things I’m looking for?” she wondered.
Now Sonny brings her presents all the time.
“I’m going to cherish every moment that I get with him because I know it is special and I may never have another Sonny,” Rachel said.
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Rachel has been diving with Sonny for over two years now.
According to her Instagram page, he has even recognized her after she’s been gone for four months.
“Every time we are away I worry about him and if he will still be around when we return,” she said on Instagram. “This little fish brings me so much joy and I hope we get to make many more memories together.”
Learn more about Rachel and Sonny’s adventures in the video below.
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