Heikegani

Heikegani
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Crustacea
Class:	Malacostraca
Order:	Decapoda
Infraorder:	Brachyura
Family:	Dorippidae
Genus:	Heikea
Species:	H. japonica
Binomial name
Heikea japonica (von Siebold, 1824)

Heikegani with human-like faces (left) depicted in an ukiyo-e print by Utagawa Kuniyoshi

Heikegani (平家蟹, ヘイケガニ) (Heikea japonica) is a species of crab native to Japan, with a shell that bears a pattern resembling a human face. It is locally believed that these crabs are reincarnations of the spirits of the Heike warriors defeated at the Battle of Dan-no-ura as told in The Tale of the Heike.

Heikegani were used by Carl Sagan in his popular science television show Cosmos: A Personal Voyage as an example of unintentional artificial selection, an interpretation published by Julian Huxley in 1952. According to this hypothesis, the crabs with shells resembling Samurai were thrown back to the sea by the fishers on respect to the Heike warriors, while those not resembling Samurai were eaten, giving the former a greater chance of reproducing. Thus, the more closely the crabs resemble a samurai face, the more likely they would be spared and thrown back.

This idea has met with some skepticism, as noted by Joel W. Martin. As humans don't use Heikegani for food, Martin posits that there is no artificial pressure favoring face-like shell patterns, contrary to Sagan's implication. The pattern of ridges on the carapace serves a very functional purpose as sites of muscle attachment. Similar patterns are found on species in many parts of the world, including fossil remains.