FACT CHECK: Does a photograph show a smiling baby undulate ray?
Claim: A photograph shows a smiling baby undulate ray.
Example: [Collected via Twitter, July 2015]
Origins: On 6 July 2007, the web site Fark held a contest in which users were asked to "Photoshop this baby undulate ray," with "this" referring to the following photograph:
Although the Fark contest generated dozens of entries, most of those photoshopped images were forgotten shortly after the competition ended. However, one entry by "JazzyCat" (which enlarged the ray's mouth and folded its "wings"), has taken several viral laps around the Internet and is often referred to as the "Welcome to My Aquarium" meme:
The original photograph was part of a set taken in 2006 by blogger KJ Lim during a visit to Sea Life marine park in Helsinki, Finland:
Most impressive is the octopus feeding programme. We managed to observe clearly how the octopus inside the tank "takes" its food. The other one was the baby of the stingray. It looks so alien and so special. Just look at the photos, you will understand what I mean here. The tour at Sea Life was short. We took tram again back to the city centre and walked back to our hostel to pack our baggage.
Last updated: 23 July 2015
Originally published: 23 July 2015