Starfish
A five-armed sea creature on the rock — slow, patient adherence to the surface that supplies it.
A starfish in a dream is the dream's image of slow, patient adherence to the surface that supplies it. The starfish does not move much; it holds on, and it eats whatever the tide brings. The dream brings the starfish when something in your life — a steady job, a long marriage, a particular spot in a city — is being lived by staying put and letting the tide do the variation. A starfish in a healthy tide pool is the dream affirming the strategy. A starfish stranded above the tide line, drying out, is the dream noting that the surface that fed you is no longer being reached by the supply, and the strategy of staying has stopped paying.