Saw a thicc ass starfish at the aquarium today 😌 pic.twitter.com/NwF0xYabHQ
— あかり(AKARI) (@Babyshoujo) June 30, 2019
Twitter user @Babyshoujo found this pink starfish (or sea star, if you're a stickler for that sort of thing) at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California, and took a photo of it.
The photo sparked off numerous memes and jokes. Some even likened the starfish to Patrick Star, Spongebob SquarePants’ best friend in the iconic animated series.
So, is that really the sea star’s butt? Turns out it isn’t.
USA TODAY reached out to Nate Jaros, curator of fish and invertebrates at the Aquarium of the Pacific, to explain what it actually is and clear up a fair bit of misconceptions about the sea creature.
In the photo, the "butt" is actually the creatures' arms.
"In this photo, the sea star is on a vertical rock face with two of its arms holding the rock and two arms hanging in a relaxed position," he told USA TODAY. "Sea stars sometimes relax their arms such as when they are eating."
Image: @Babyshoujo / Twitter