But for life to imitate a popular kids cartoon? That's pretty rare - until now.

Just hangin' out

The internet went into total meltdown after marine researchers shared a picture of a real-life SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick Star hanging out in real life.

Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) came across a square-shaped yellow sponge and a five-pointed pink sea star while controlling a remotely operated vehicle, Live Science reported.

The iconic duo was spotted at the Retriever Seamount off the coast of New England.

*laugh* I normally avoid these refs..but WOW. REAL LIFE Sponge bob and Patrick! #Okeanos Retreiver seamount 1885 m pic.twitter.com/fffKNKMFjP

— Christopher Mah (@echinoblog) July 27, 2021

The NOAA shared the cute images of the sea sponge and star on their Facebook livestream, and it immediately went viral.

Fans of SpongeBob Squarepants were clearly very excited over the discovery:

You just know they were cutting it up right before the camera came... they were like FREEZE

— BabanajamaMama ? (@gettingconfetti) July 28, 2021

The Netflix adaptation looks great!

— ???????? (@leafiu_) July 29, 2021

It‘s real！The best friendship in the world??

— Sonny S (@SonnySongsyx) July 29, 2021

pic.twitter.com/1lFbXkyyf6

— M (@mwhdeere) July 30, 2021

The image was even posted on the SpongeBob Squarepants’ official Instagram account:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by SpongeBob SquarePants (@spongebob)

Not friendly in real life

Christopher Mah, a marine biologist with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, told Live Science that SpongeBob and Patrick share a close relationship in the cartoon, in real life, it’s the other way around.

"This species of starfish has been observed feeding on sponges," he was quoted as saying.

Noooooo, our entire childhood has been a lie!

For those who actually WANT to see it? Here is Chondraster feeding on a sponge! (not the yellow "Spongebob" one though) from the #Okeanos North Atlantic canyons expedition in 2013 #realpatrick https://t.co/qmdzHV9q1E pic.twitter.com/xhqWA9k6ge

— Christopher Mah (@echinoblog) July 31, 2021

Mah was also quoted as saying that while he is happy that the photo has brought joy to a lot of people, he also hoped that it will create awareness about deep sea habitat.