The new go-to selfie look? The fish gape

Let’s talk about duck face for a quick second. The ubiquitous selfie-ready face, which involves pursing your lips into an IRL kiss emoji, has been derided by haters as being vapid and silly, to which we say, look, you’re taking a selfie, not deciding on global economic policy. The assumption that there’s a “right” or “wrong” way to take a selfie is already itself wrong, simply because the only rule of taking a selfie is this: You take a photo of yourself.

That said, people preach different tricks to getting your face to look its best self(ie). Duck face, which narrows the face and is often accompanied by the widening of the eyes, is one such technique, but another one is on the upswing: The fish gape. As Nylon puts it, “All [the fish gape] takes is a relaxed jaw, a bit of a smize, and an ever-so-slightly opened mouth” — aka, like the mouth motions of a fish.

What does the fish gape look like in action? If you’ve ever found yourself trying to take any sort of lipstick-featuring selfie, you’ll know this look all too well:

Look, as someone who’s been caught making weird faces in pursuit of the perfect selfie, the fish gape is a perfectly normal pose in the selfie arsenal. That it now has a trendy animal name is just par for the course — now go use it, or don’t, the next time you take a photo.

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Images via Instagram and here.