Staring Fish / Do You Fart

About

Staring Fish, also known as Helo Fish and by the original caption Do You Fart, refers to an image of a lagoon triggerfish looking directly at the camera, usually paired with ironic, surreal or offensive captions. The format gained significant spread on Instagram, iFunny and certain subreddits in early 2020.

Origin

On December 15th, 2019, marine biologist Jacinta Shackleton posted a video of a lagoon triggerfish, also known as Picasso triggerfish, repeatedly attacking the camera to her Instagram account (shown below).^[1] The video received over 34,300 views and 5,100 likes in three weeks.

Prior to December 31st, 2019, an unknown user posted a still image of the fish looking directly at the camera captioned "Do You Fart," with the meme being reposted by an influential Snapchat meme account xo trayvon vert on December 31st (shown below).^[2]

Spread

Starting on December 31st, 2019, the "Do You Fart" meme has been widely circulated online, particularly on Instagram, with the image also spreading to iFunny and certain Discord servers. For example, a December 31st repost by Instagram user lolhylian received over 26,000 likes in one week.^[3] A January 1st, 2020, post by iFunny user XenonTheFox gained over 170 smiles in the same period.^[4]

Following the extensive spread of the original meme, this and other still images of the fish gained popularity in ironic memes, particularly on Instagram and in /r/okbuddyretard subreddit. For example, a January 1st, 2020 meme reposted by Instagram^[5] user lolhylian received over 14,400 likes (shown below, right). A January 8th meme by iFunny^[6] user HiggsBoson received over 300 smiles in one day (shown below, right).

In early January, a number of notable memes based on the video of the fish were reposted by xo trayvon vert, promoting the spread of the meme.

Various Examples

Template

Search Interest

External References