Rabiot was a Giant Pacific Octopus caught off the coast of Obira, Hokkaido. Rabiot, the World Cup-predicting octopus, has died. More precisely, he's been turned into sashimi, reports Japanese newspaper Mainichi. Japanese outlet Sora News 24 was more gruesome in its description of Rabiot's fate: "match-predicting octopus gutted after loss to Poland … literally." Rabiot was a Giant Pacific Octopus caught off the coast of Obira, Hokkaido. According to Mainichi, fisherman Kimio Abe, 51, named the mollusk on June 19. Abe then placed his new invertebrate in a paddling pool containing three boxes with food, one representing Japan, another representing its opponent and a third representing a draw, according to reports. In the experiment, the octopus tipped its tentacles towards the right boxes, thus predicting a Japanese win against Colombia, a draw with Senegal and a loss to Poland. All three predictions were true. "I'm glad that all the forecasts turned out correct and Japan moved on to the knockout stage," fisherman Abe told Mainichi in an interview published before the team's loss to Poland. Rabiot is not the first octopus to predict World Cup results. Paul, an octopus who lived in a German aquarium, correctly predicted eight World Cup games in 2010. He was found dead of natural causes later that fall. Abe told Mainichi that he sent Rabiot to the fish market before Japan lost 1-0 to Poland last week, an outcome the tasty invertebrate didn't see coming. Meanwhile, scientists feel we might be better served keeping octopuses off dinner plates. Researchers at Cambridge University specifically mentioned octopuses in their 2012 Declaration of Consciousness, which states that some animals also possess the "neurological substrates" that generate consciousness. For his part, Abe told the Japanese newspaper that he is now on the hunt for another eight-limbed oracle to predict the remaining World Cup results.<doc-sep>A giant Pacific octopus named Rabio caught off the coast of Obira, Japan, last month became something of a national sensation when its snack selections 'predicted' Japan's 2018 World Cup victories. Now the fisherman who found the celebrated cephalopod has declared Rabio's fifteen minutes of fame is up and given him the chop. Literally. For some reason, humans love to outsource their gambling decisions to animals. Probably because when it comes to blindly making a random prediction, it's not like they can do any worse. A cat in Russia named Achilles recently declared Russia will be the World Cup victors. It's already wisely earned its keep as oracle by chowing down from a bowl marked with the Russian flag prior to a match with Saudi Arabia. Then there was Paul, a common octopus at the Sea Life Centre in Oberhausen, Germany, who earned a reputation for divining a dozen matches for World Cup 2010 and Euro 2008. His success rate was admittedly pretty good – around 85 percent. But even he lived to a ripe old age of two and a half, to die of natural causes. Rabio's relatively small record was unblemished, picking morsels of food from the 'Japan will win' basket in the match against Colombia, the 'draw' basket when faced with Senegal, and the 'loss' selection for Poland. Sadly, it wasn't like Rabio was given much of a chance to really shine. Given a chance, he could have brought fisherman Kimio Abe a fortune by foreseeing the winners of not just football matches, but horse races, boxing matches, and even upcoming hands of blackjack. Octopuses are remarkably intelligent problem solvers, after all, with big brains and smaller nodes of neural processors in each arm. Alas, a smart octopus would know gambling is a fool's game. After all, it's not like anybody has seen a casino in Octlantis. Clearly Abe also knows a little something about how survivor bias works, and how nobody writes front page articles about animals that randomly pick from the wrong bowl. A business man first, Abe sold Rabio to a food market before he got too old and then quickly replaced him with Rabio Jr. "I hope that the second Rabio will also give all the outcomes correctly and that Japan will go all the way," Abe told Sora News 24 several days ago. Rabio Jr predicted Japan would win over Belgium on July 3. They didn't. We have our own prediction, and the future doesn't look so good for Rabio Jr.<doc-sep>While Japan's footballers are left to dwell on what might have been, at least they still have their health. Unlike Rabio.<doc-sep>Despite correctly predicting the results of Japan’s first three World Cup group matches in Russia, Rabio the “psychic” octopus was unlikely to have foreseen an event of far greater consequence: its own death. One Twitter user speculated that Rabio’s “murder” had condemned Japan to their heartbreaking last-gasp defeat against Belgium on Monday, denying them a place in the quarter-finals. While others thought murder too strong a word for the fisherman’s actions, one agreed that dispatching Rabio was bad karma: “This will be the curse of the Octopus and they won’t win the WC for another century!” Rabio had proved the perfect pundit after being caught off the coast of Obira in northern Japan shortly before the Samurai Blue pulled off a shock 2-1 win over Colombia. After being placed in a plastic pool by Kimio Abe, who caught him, Rabio moved stealthily towards one of three boxes representing a win for Japan, a loss, and a draw, and duly predicted the team’s win over Colombia, its draw with Senegal and defeat to Poland. Mystic Marcus the pig predicts an England win during ITV’s This Morning on Tuesday. Marcus is three from three in England predictions to date, so let’s not knock it. Photograph: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock But as Japan prepared to play Belgium, Abe revealed that the creature had been killed and sold as seafood at the local market soon after it had correctly forecast the result in the Poland match. “I’m glad that all the forecasts turned out correct and Japan moved on to the knockout stage,” Abe told the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper. “I hope Rabio’s successor will accurately tip the results of all games and Japan will win the World Cup.” That was not to be. Coach Akira Nishino’s team did, though, win over millions of neutrals watching on TV around the world, as well as praise from fans back home who had watched the match in the middle of the night, prompting shops to sell “football hangover” kits comprising caffeine-laced energy drinks and strong mint gum. The oracle cat Achilles predicts a Brazil victory in the 2018 World Cup group stage match against Costa Rica. Photograph: Peter Kovalev/TASS “When we took the lead I thought we were going to win,” said Nao Okada, a university student who burst into tears at a sports bar in Tokyo when the match ended. “It hurts, but it was a really good game … I want Japan to keep playing like that next time,” she told Reuters. Nishino, whose team are ranked 61st in the world, said he took responsibility for the defeat. “When the goal was conceded, I blamed myself, and I question my tactics,” he said, according to Kyodo news. “As for the result, I am very disappointed. I am devastated.”<doc-sep>
A giant octopus that correctly guessed the results of Japan's World Cup matches has been chopped up and turned into seafood. "Rabiot the octopus" gained a cult following by accurately predicting the results of the country's group stage games. Using a paddling pool, the psychic squid made his guesses by swimming to one of three different baskets - each representing whether Japan would win lose or draw in the corresponding fixture. Rabiot saw that Japan would beat Colombia, draw with Senegal and lose to Poland in their Group H match thus sending them through to their knockout round tie against Belgium. (Image: YouTube/Hokkaido News cultural broadcasting) One thing he didn't see coming, however, was his own untimely death at the hands of an overeager seafood chef. Rabiot, a giant Pacific octopus, was caught off the coast of Obira, in Hokkaido, on the day of the Samurai Blue's opening game with group opponents Colombia. (Image: YouTube/Hokkaido News cultural broadcasting) His legion of fans have been horrified to learn, that despite his 100% success rate, he has now boiled alive and chopped up into seafood chunks, Sora News 24 reported. Kimio Abe, the fisherman who caught him, broke the tragic news but says that he has reeled in a new eight-legged successor to Rabiot - named Rabiot Jr. (Image: YouTube/Hokkaido News cultural broadcasting) Abe says that, despite the affection for his animal, he was forced to sell him to to keep his business going. “I'm glad that all the forecasts turned out correct and Japan moved on to the knockout stage,” Mr Abe told Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun. “I hope Rabiot's successor will accurately tip the results of all games and Japan will win the World Cup.” Perhaps if Rabiot had still been alive he could have given a head's up about Japan's heartbreaking final minute defeat to Belgium in the round 16 knockout game.