Rabiot the psychic World Cup octopus has been killed and eaten

Rabiot, a giant Pacific octopus caught by Japanese fisherman Kimio Abe in the Obira, Hokkaido region, has reached the end of his reign as the psychic animal who correctly predicted the outcomes of Japan's group stage games in the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Rabiot caught the attention of soccer fans in Japan and abroad when he first started predicting the winners of the matches by swimming towards baskets of food that represented a win, a defeat or a draw for the country. Rabiot correctly guessed that Japan would win against Colombia, lose against Poland and draw with Senegal.

Despite the octopus's track record, fisherman Abe decided it was more important to sell the animal to keep his business going. Japanese media reported a picture of a gutted octopus in the marketplace, saying that the beloved animal had met an untimely end. 

Abe has already recruited a second octopus to make predictions and says he hopes it will be just as successful. This substitute octopus was not in time to predict Japan's loss against Belgium on 2 July. 

ALSO READ: Seeing a snake spit up bird's eggs will make you squirm

Fans of Rabiot were brokenhearted at the news. 

ALSO READ: Ostrich leaves crowd stunned as it runs wild during Russian circus show