Meanwhile on the Ocean Floor: Real-Life SpongeBob and Patrick Is a Tad More Anti-Climatic Than Expected

Photo: NOAA Ocean Exploration

We all know the story of the yellow, porous sponge (named SpongeBob Squarepants) who lives in a pineapple at the bottom of the sea. Why he lives in a pineapple (and why it doesn’t rot away) we’ll never know. We overlook that part. We suspend a little bit of our disbelief with this story. He lives next door to a disgruntled squid aptly named Squidward and his best friend is a starfish named Patrick. That’s all well and good, but it’s not the real world. Or is it?

Recently, some marine researchers spotted a duo of creatures that resembled the cartoon pals sitting next to each other off the coast of New England. Researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration were exploring this part of the ocean when their live stream caught the pair sitting side by side.

Adorable, right? Sadly, in the real world, a sponge and starfish are much less likely to be friends. This is because the reason the starfish was so close to the sponge was that it was likely stalking it. You see, in the real world sponges aren’t friends with starfish, they’re dinner.

Luckily, the video feed didn’t capture this potentially traumatic, childhood-ruining moment, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen shortly afterward. Regardless, we can still turn on the TV and see our two favorite ocean-dwelling pals hanging out. We’ve seen enough episodes to be fairly sure there isn’t one where Patrick attempts to eat SpongeBob.

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