Octopus that predicted Japan’s World Cup results killed and “sent to market”
In this still Oct. 5, 2014 image taken from video provided by Andrea Petersen, a giant pacific octopus swims at the bottom of the Puget Sound near Edmonds, Wash. Every year, the aquarium enlists the help of volunteer divers to search and count giant pacific octopus in the Puget Sound for an underwater census.
AP Photo/Andrea Petersen
An octopus that correctly predicted all of Japan’s World Cup results has been killed and sent to the dinner table. Rabio, a giant Pacific octopus from Hokkaido, was “gutted, cleaned and sent off to the market” ahead of a match against Belgium, South China Morning Post reports.
Local fisherman Kimio Abe, Rabio’s owner, told Japan’s Mainichi that he was happy Rabio correctly predicted all three of Japan’s group matches. But he thought he’d make more money selling Rabio for food than from his sixth sense.
“I hope Rabio’s successor will accurately tip the results of all games and Japan will win the World Cup,” Abe told Mainichi.
To predict the games, Abe placed the mollusk in a plastic pool, which contained three boxes representing Japan, the opposing team and a draw. The octopus made a prediction by moving toward any of the three boxes, which held food to tempt him, according to BBC News.
Rabio picked Japan to win against Colombia, a draw with Senegal and a loss to Poland, which all came true. He was sent to market before he could predict Japan’s crushing loss to Belgium in the round of 16.
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