Proposal for STARFISH Emoji

Submitted by: Kelly Marie Blanchat of Emojination

Date: October 2018

Abstract

This proposal requests the inclusion of a new aquatic animal emoji: STARFISH. Though climate change and tourism threaten their habitat, starfish are a resilient species that have existed for 500 million years. Starfish can reproduce asexually and regenerate their arms. In popular culture, starfish are depicted as intelligent and loyal.

Image

Credit: Aphelandra Messer (Free for use in context of this proposal)

Introduction

Starfish, members of the phylum Echinodermata, are marine invertebrates with a central disc and five arms. In Ancient Greek, Echinodermata translates to “hedgehog (echinos) skin” (derma), as the surface of a starfish is made up of overlapping plates, which can be smooth or spiny.^[1] Though the starfish has a linguistic connection to the hedgehog, this proposal suggests that the addition of a STARFISH emoji will fill a gap within the aquatic emoji characters.

Starfish, though seemingly simple, continue to spark the interest of scientists and hoi polloi alike. For one, the starfish can reproduce asexually and regrow its arms. And though most starfish do not have true eyes -- instead, they have sensors used to identify stationary objects, like coral, at the end of each arm -- it was recently discovered that three kinds of deep-ocean starfish have bioluminescence and fully developed eyes, which are used for hunting prey and finding mates.^[2] In 1980, geologist Dr. Eamon Doyle discovered a fossilized 435 million year-old specimen of the ophiuroid species of starfish.^[3] This ophiuroid species was found to have developed over half a billion years ago and has stayed relatively the same since then. In fact, H. P. Lovecraft alluded to starfish as ancient creatures in his story At the Mountains of Madness.^[4]

Starfish are resilient animals. If the internal temperature of their central disc is above 35 degrees celsius, a starfish will divert heat away from central organs to its arms. Then, if its arms remain above 35 degrees celcius for too long, it will lose them as a backup method of regulating temperature.^[5] When it comes to being too cold, however, recent news has shown that the starfish have fewer safeguards. In March 2018, tens of thousands of starfish washed ashore on a beach in the United Kingdom as a result of sub-zero temperatures during two major storms (“Beast from the East” and “Storm Emma”).^[6] This disastrous event for the starfish could be more evidence to climate change. Nevertheless, the starfish has survived, regulating itself, for 500 million years.

Beyond changes in temperature, certain starfish species are at additional risk due to over-collecting. The species oreaster reticulatus and protoreaster nodosus are endangered and harvesting them is illegal due to being over-collected for the tourism trade during the 20th century.

Figure A                        Figure B                        Figure C

The trade of starfish is so ubiquitous that the narrative is associated with its animated representations. For instance, the character “Peach” from the Pixar animated movie Finding Nemo (Figure A) is purchased by a dentist on eBay and is a key player in the escape of the “Tank Gang.” Other animated starfish include “Patrick Star,” the loyal sidekick of Spongebob Squarepants from the Nickelodeon series by the same name (Figure B), and “Mr. Starfish,” a ship captain’s quartermaster from the Disney animated series Chip N’ Dale Rescue Rangers (Figure C), who has his own sidekick, a dimwitted Octopus named “All Hands.” These three starfish representations show that not only is the starfish resilient, but they are also associated with intelligence, loyalty and kindness.

Names

CLDR Short Name: Starfish

CLDR keywords: starfish, star fish, sand star, brittle star, star

Selection Factors Inclusion

A. Compatibility

The proposed STARFISH emoji would be an entirely new character for iOS, Android, and Windows.

Though there is not currently a STARFISH keyboard character available, the iTunes App Store includes sticker packs with starfish characters. Some of these sticker packs are exclusively starfish-themed, while others are sea-themed. Most of the starfish sticker packs available in the iTunes App Store have an associated cost between $0.99 and $1.99. A sample of these stickers include:

• “Starfishmoji - Starfish Emoji” by Mar Kevin Starfish!^[7]
• “Charlie the Unicorn Stickers” by Jason Steele^[8]
• “Mermoji” by Boss Apps^[9]
• “Sea Animals Sticker Pack” by Michael Goodman^[10]

Additionally, the Google messaging app Allo for Android, iOS and web, includes an animated sticker pack “Fun-der the Sea,” which features the characters “Stella the Starfish” alongside “Otto the Octopus.”^[11] This pairing of a starfish with an octopus is similar to the pairing in Chip N’ Dale Rescue Rangers.

B. Expected Usage Level

Frequency

Google Trends shows that the interest in “Starfish (Animal)” and “Echinoderm (Animal)” has remained steady over the past five years, with peaks occurring in November and May of each year (Figure D).

Figure D

These trends represent numerous regions, with Puerto Rico (US), Panama, New Zealand, Australia, the United States and Costa Rica in the top five results for “Starfish (Animal),” and Mozambique, Honduras, Colombia, Peru and Ecuador in the top five results for “Echinoderm (Animal)” (Figure E).

Figure E

Internet searches for “starfish” return over 73 million results on Google, and over 21 million on Bing (see Figures F and G). Of the Google results, over 2 million are video, of which 325 thousand for “starfish” are from YouTube (see Figures H and I).

Figure F

Figure G

Figure H

Figure I

As for current emoji comparisons, the “starfish” can be akin to LOBSTER and BLOWFISH, due to their tough exteriors. In this situation, Google Trends shows “lobster” clearly on top, with an average of 57 (see Figure J). However, this trend is likely due to lobsters being both animal and food. With “lobster” removed, the starfish trends consistently higher than “blowfish” over a 5 year period (see Figure K). For Google Image trends, “lobster,” with an average of 66, still comes out on top but with not nearly as high of a margin to “starfish,” which has an average of 34 (see Figure L). Clearly, the starfish might not be edible but it’s still loveable!

Figure J

Figure K

Figure L

Multiple Usages

The STARFISH emoji could be used in multiple ways. Similar to Emojination’s proposed SEAHORSE emoji, the STARFISH emoji can be used to describe snorkeling adventures while on vacation, as a means of bragging or causing FOMO with friends and family. One such use could include, “OMG I saw all these fish!! 🐟🐡[STARFISH]🦈🐙!!!”.

Because of the unique characteristics of a starfish -- including asexual reproduction and arm regeneration -- a STARFISH emoji could be used to describe loneliness (i.e.: “I’m so lonely [STARFISH]💔”), being a single parent (i.e.: “I don’t need a man! [STARFISH]👶”), or an injury (i.e.: “I broke my arm playing baseball, but it’ll be OK soon [STARFISH]”).

Use in Sequences

STARFISH + TROPICAL FISH + BLOWFISH + FISH = “Tank Gang” from Finding Nemo

STARFISH + TROPICAL FISH + OCTOPUS = general sealife

STARFISH + NO LITTERING = starfish conservation

STARFISH + SPONGE = Spongebob Squarepants

STARFISH + KISS MARK = starfish kiss

STARFISH + WHITE MEDIUM STAR + GLOWING STAR + SPARKLES = glowing starfish

STARFISH + BABY = single parent

STARFISH + FLEXED BICEPS = broken arm

STARFISH + LEG = broken leg

STARFISH + BROKEN HEART = loneliness

STARFISH + HOT BEVERAGE + MAN SINGER = “Starfish and Coffee” by Prince^[12]

STARFISH + CARROT + SQUID + FLYING SAUCER = “Old Ones” from All the Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft

C. Image Distinctiveness

The STARFISH emoji is being proposed as a new character because the other aquatic animals in the Animal category are largely fish, mammals or crustaceans. Though there are other star-shaped emoji, such as WHITE MEDIUM STAR ⭐and GLOWING STAR 🌟, the STARFISH emoji design is proposed to include additional texture and coloring to differentiate it from stars.

D. Completeness

The addition of a STARFISH emoji will provide users with a wider variety of aquatic animals while also rounding out the complexity and completeness of the animals in its category. Additionally, the STARFISH emoji will complement Emojination’s proposed SEAHORSE emoji as another representative fish with an exoskeleton, both of which are also endangered.

E. Frequently requested

A Twitter search^[13] for “Starfish emoji” brings back a number of users requesting the STARFISH emoji. Many of these users make the request while lamenting the loss of tens of thousands of starfish in the United Kingdom (Figure M). Some other users discuss the animated movie Finding Nemo (Figure N) and the animated series Spongebob Squarepants (Figure O).

Figure M^[14]

Figure N^[15]

Figure O^[16]

This search also reveals the hashtag #starfishemoji,^[17] which includes uses mostly using the hashtag as a replacement for not having an emoji (Figure P).

Figure P^[18]

On Instagram, the hashtag #starfishemoji has 106 posts,^[19] and #starfish has 1,208,649 posts.^[20]

Selection Factors Exclusion

F. Overly Specific

Though the starfish is fish, the STARFISH emoji would be the only of its specific type.

G. Open Ended

A STARFISH emoji would be a unique addition to Unicode characters. It would complement existing fish and aquatic life emoji while providing more animal diversity within them.

H. Already Representable

The only way to represent a starfish emoji is by using the WHITE MEDIUM STAR emoji, either on its own or combined with the FISH emoji. Currently, this use requires explanation, which can be seen on Twitter (Figures Q & R).

Figure Q^[21]

Figure R^[22]

I. Logos, brands, UI icons, signage, specific people, deities

The proposed STARFISH emoji does not represent a specific logo, brand, UI icon, sign, person or deity. There are companies that use generic starfish imagery for logos, but these logos are distinct from each other, as no one person can hold a copyright, trademark, or claim over the general shape of a starfish.

J. Transient

The starfish, as an animal, will not change its form, but its habitat is threatened by climate change and human intervention.

K. Faulty Comparison

There are other star-shaped emoji, but these emoji are seen as bright, have gold coloring and are distinct within the space and earth emoji sets. The STARFISH emoji in the Animal category, surrounded by other aquatic animals, will be distinct and separate from other emoji.

Exact Images

The proposed emoji does not require an exact image to be distinguishable.

Sort location 

The STARFISH emoji is proposed in the “Animal” category, after CRAB 🦀 and before BLOWFISH 🐡. If Emojination’s SEAHORSE emoji is approved, the STARFISH emoji is proposed to go after SEAHORSE and before BLOWFISH 🐡.

Other Information

(optional)

Character Properties

The other character properties are suggested to be defined as follows.

General Category:

Canonical Combining Class:

Bidirectional Class:

Decomposition Type:                                

Numeric Type:

Numeric Value:

Bidirectional Mirrored: N Unicode 1 Name:

ISO Comment:

Simple Uppercase Mapping:

Simple Lowercase Mapping:

Simple Title case Mapping:

Author Bios

Kelly Marie Blanchat (kelly.blanchat@gmail.com) is a librarian in New Haven, Connecticut. She uses concepts from social media to teach students about information retrieval and being socially conscious information consumers and creators. She is originally from Sarasota, Florida, among vast amounts of starfish and other aquatic iconography.