Iguana in Galápagos Goes Viral for Wearing Crab as Necklace in Stunning Photos
(skaman306 / Getty Images)
Aura is often easier to spot than define. This was proven true by one iguana in the Galápagos Islands.
Wildlife photographer Dale Morris posted several photos of an iguana looking majestic while standing on a rock to his Instagram on October 31.
Crabs are climbing all over the iguana in the photos. In one particular photo, the iguana looks like it is wearing one of the crabs as a necklace.
Complex posted these photos to its X account on Wednesday morning, and they have gone viral, amassing over 3.2 million views in just a few hours.
The X post’s caption is, “Photographer captures iguana that looks like Godzilla 🦎,” as many social media users are noticing that the iguana looks like Godzilla.
But more can’t get enough the fact that the iguana looks to be wearing a crab as a necklace.
A cool fun fact that many don’t know about Godzilla is that the original 1954 version was modeled after three dinosaurs: the Tyrannosaurus rex, the Iguanodon, and the Stegosaurus.
Despite their remarkably similar names, iguanas did not evolve from the Iguanodon. But iguanas did have a later influence on how Godzilla looked.
When Weta Workshop was creating Godzilla for an upcoming movie in 2014, Christian Pearce (who was involved in the project) said the team “did look at the natural world, including marine creatures. Godzilla spends 99 per cent of his life underwater so we looked at marine iguanas,” when deciding how the iconic monster would look on screen, per FX Guide.
No movie-adapted Godzilla has worn a crab necklace. But perhaps the next one will after these iguana photos went viral.
This story was originally published by Parade on Nov 11, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Source: Nature
