Photo:Rex Colubra/SWNS
Rex Colubra/SWNS
Man has a new best friend.
Rex Colubra was on a dive in September 2021, the first time he met his friend Elvis. Besides their shared interest in swimming, Colubra and Elvis had little in common — mainly because Elvis is afreshwater smallmouth bass.
The 40-year-old Wisconsin native realized Elvis was special on his initial dive when the fish stuck fearlessly close to him, even when he got out of the water. When Colubra returned to the same diving spot just two weeks later, Elvis remembered him and greeted the diver ardently. All it took was a crawfish treat to solidify the pair’s blossoming friendship.
Now, Colubra makes it a point to visit hisfish friendevery year.
“He’s completely obsessed with me. He follows me around and just stares me in the eyes,” the print-shop worker and animal enclosure maker said in an interview with South West News Service,per theNew York Post.
“Elvis will literally just fight other fish if they get too close to me to keep them away,” Colubra added, referring to the fact that his unconventional bestie isn’t willing to share his friend (or crawfish) with other fish in the lake.
“Of course, I would be sad if he had been caught. He’s my friend,” Colubra said. “There’s not much I can do to protect him. It’s the risk he runs every year.”
Even though the diver keeps the exact location of the lake a secret to protect Elvis from fishermen, he runs aTikTok accountwith over 100,000 followers for the smallmouth. Here, he documents all their sweet playdates and heartwarming interactions.
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In one of his videos, Colubra tells the story of how diving has given him a soft spot for fish. Once an avid fisherman, he says he stopped going out on the lake daily when he noticed hundreds of fish with ‘horribly disfigured faces" on a snorkeling trip. Since then, he’s traded his tackle box for goggles.
“I’m all for hunting and fishing for food when done ethically…but there’s no real justification for me to hurt these animals for my amusement anymore,” Colubra said. “It’s far more rewarding to swim with them.”
source: people.com
