All his family could grab was Coca-Cola, which his wife poured over his back in the shower and the pain dissipated. Within a minute, a perfect imprint of an octopus tentacle appeared on Karlson's neck and back.Ī former volunteer lifeguard, Karlson rushed back to his hotel room to find something acidic to put on the wound.
Octopuses are known to squirt an ink-like substance when they feel threatened. "I was confused - it was more of a shock than a fright," said Karlson. His goggles fogged and the water around him turned murky with what he thought might have been octopus ink as he struggled back toward the shore. He presumed the assailant was the same octopus as earlier and that he had inadvertently stumbled upon its home. While swimming nearby soon after, Karlson was examining a pile of crab shells when he felt a whipping sensation across his left arm, followed by a second strike across his neck and upper back. "I took that footage, it lashed out at me and I was quite surprised and then it swam off into deeper water," Karlson told CNN Friday. Karlson posted his video on Instagram, where it has been viewed 60,000 times. Realizing the creature was, in fact, an octopus, he started filming it - just in time for the angry invertebrate to launch itself at him. On March 18, 34-year-old Lance Karlson was walking on the beach and looking for somewhere to swim with his two-year-old daughter in Geographe Bay, a popular snorkeling spot about 140 miles south of Perth, when he saw what he thought was a stingray leap from the water. "These are truly remarkable, highly intelligent creatures that clearly have some very strong emotions," he said.Considered by biologists to be some of the most intelligent invertebrates, octopuses are normally playful and inquisitive.īut an Australian geologist saw another side to the marine creatures, when one octopus defended its home in Western Australia rather aggressively. Karlson hopes people respond to his story with intrigue and fascination rather than fear. "I remember being asked on many occasions by other students about the Australian animals that regularly make headlines in the USA - our deadly snakes, spiders, great white sharks, and crocodiles - never could I have imagined featuring in one of those articles!" he said. Karlson's experience has made headlines around the world, to his surprise.Īs a geology student, Karlson attended Cornell University on a student exchange year in 2007-2008. "Like all octopuses, it is venomous, but like most, it is harmless to humans, with the venoms dramatically more potent on invertebrates like clams and lobster," he said. Lance Karlsonĭespite the shock of Karlson's attack, Bryan Fry, an associate professor at the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Queensland, told CNN that octopuses generally don't pose a risk to humans. Lance Karlson is now completely fine following his octopus encounter.
When threatened, octopuses squirt out an ink-like substance, and Karlson believes he may have been unknowingly in the creature's home. I can only describe it as a 'whipping' sensation followed by a stinging." "I was then struck a second time, more forcefully, across my neck and upper back. "My goggles became fogged, the water was suddenly murky, and I remember being shocked and confused," he said. The former lifeguard left the octopus in peace and went to set up a tent further along the beach for his wife and daughter.Ībout 20 minutes later, Karlson was swimming in the sea on his own (having swum there "many times" before) when the octopus came back - while looking at crab shells in water about 1.5 metres deep, Karlson was whipped across his left arm. Keep in mind that I was with my daughter, and I think any dad would relate to being more protective of her than fearful of the threat," said Karlson. I had not encountered an octopus this close before, so at the time, I was mostly intrigued. "My response to the first encounter which I caught on film was shock, followed by fascination. "The octopus lashed out at us, which was a real shock," he told Insider. Karlson filmed some footage of the octopus and posted it on Instagram, which has now been viewed more than 221,000 times.
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