This is a pornstar.
Due to its eerie likeness to human genitalia, an image of a sea star is evoking juvenile online guffaws and should likely be removed.
A snapshot of the deep water creature that resembles Dildo is currently making waves on Reddit, and just like that, a new pornstar has emerged.
As it turns out, the multi-armed aquatic creature is a granulated sea star (Choriaster granulatus, commonly known as the doughboy starfish because to its convex, bulbous arms).
The blur-worthy invertebrate typically inhabits tropical waters from East Africa to Papua New Guinea, feeding on carrion and small invertebrates such as coral polyps via a mouth on the underside of its body.
The star’s phallic appearance sparked a flood of comments on Reddit, with many users labeling it a “c–ktopus” and making other NSFW jokes.
Once, I discovered one of these sea stars under my mother’s bed, quipped one cheeky Reddit user.
Another commented, “This is why we never meet mermaids,” while another joked, “I hear its condom fits like a glove.”
A Reddit member screamed, “Looks like I’ll be traveling to Australia!”
In the meantime, another social media comic asserted that the starfish is a “sacred religious symbol in the Pentecostal Church.”
This is not the first time a marine organism has been compared to genitalia. In 2019, a flotilla of “pulsing penis fish” dubbed spoon worms invaded the California coastline, causing the internet to go wild over the phallic-looking flotsam.
It also inspired this gem of a tweet from comedian Mark Normand: “Ladies, if you’re not satisfied at home, there are plenty of fish in the sea.”
»‘Penis’ starfish spawns a flood of obscene jokes«