Case file · Folklore / legend
The Heike crabs of Dan-no-ura
Fishermen of the Shimonoseki strait say the crabs whose shells look like angry samurai faces carry the souls of Heike warriors drowned at the battle of Dan-no-ura in 1185.
1185 CE · 33.96, 130.96 · status: legend
The account
Carl Sagan's 'Cosmos' (1980) suggested that fishermen threw back the most face-like crabs, selecting for the pattern over centuries.
The sceptical view
Biologists note the ridges anchor muscles, the crabs are too small to eat anyway, and related species far away have similar patterns, so Sagan's selection idea is doubted.