Heikegani Crab

The Heikegani is a crab species native to Japan, and it’s most peculiar and prominent feature is the pattern that looks like a human face. The shellfish is also known as the Samurai crab, and folklore has it that they are Heike warriors reincarnated. 

Past Japanese tales suggest that the crab originates from an emperor’s soul who lost his life during a battle dating back in 1185 AD. Scientists suggest that the crab’s facial features that resemble an angry samurai might have just been triggered by evolutionary shifts or pareidolia, which is our instinct to perceive human faces where they don’t exist.