In the beginning, there were inflatable waterfowl. Then came the doughnuts, the Pegasus floats and the novelty coffins. Children have drifted out to sea and across lakes on them. They have terrorized highways, carried by the wind. And last year, on Fish Lake in Chisago County, Minn., a group of four women stranded on a rainbow unicorn were rescued by local deputies.

With each passing summer, more and more bodies of water are invaded by the species known as the polyvinyl chloride inflatable pool float.

Search #poolfloat on Instagram and there’s a near endless scroll of babies, dogs and fully grown adults reclining on inflatables of all shapes and sizes. Celebrities do it. Influencers do it. Even ferrets and tiny inanimate dolls are doing it.

The act of lounging on a novelty pool float, or, more specifically, the photographic evidence of one lounging on a novelty pool float, has become visual shorthand for a carefree, idyllic lifestyle. The phenomenon shows no signs of deflating; there has been a spike in searches for “pool float” on Google every summer for the past three years, according to Google Trends. (Popular related search topics include “unicorn,” “swans” and “pineapple.”)