Octopus Lashed Tourist in Australia

When a tourist in Australia got a little too close to an angry octopus on vacation, the creature lashed out and hit him. He posted a video of the incident to his social media account that has since been viewed more than 300,000 times.

Lance Karlson, a geologist, was on vacation in Australia last month with his wife and two-year-old daughter when he spotted something in the water that looked like a stingray. He quickly grabbed his daughter and phone to video whatever was lurking in the shallows.

Karlson says he went back to swim about 20 minutes later, when the angry octopus returned and attacked him again. He swam away, but when he got to the shore, streaks of red, stinging welts appeared across his arm, neck and back that mirrored the shape of an octopus' sucker-studded arm. Despite its lashing appearance, Karlson believes that the animal did not really intend to hurt him. In fact, he said, "It was more of a surprise than anything."

In the clip, Karlson, a geologist from Perth, Australia, is walking along a beach in Dunsborough with his two-year-old daughter when he spotted an animal in shallow waters. He thought it was a stingray and he quickly walked closer to take a video of the animal, which then suddenly took a sharp swing at him with its tentacles. You are curious to know more about octopus lashed tourist in Australia, go here.

The octopus turned its wrath on him as the animal swatted Karlson across his neck, back and arms. The man was left with red marks and a stinging sensation that his wife later poured soda over to treat the pain.

Octopus doesn't typically attack humans in their shelters, according to Jennifer Mather, a marine biology professor at the University of Lethbridge in Australia. Instead, she says, octopuses use their tentacles to "slap" other creatures that get too close.

While octopus venom isn’t fatal, the venom is 11 times more potent than cyanide, which makes the sea creature a potential threat to tourists in the water. A bite from a blue-ringed octopus can result in muscle numbness, nausea, vision loss, blindness and even loss of motor skills.

According to the New York Times, Karlson first noticed the octopus when he and his family were walking on a beach in Western Australia’s Geographe Bay on March 18. They thought it was a stingray when they spotted it attacking a seagull, but as they approached the octopus, it turned around and lashed out at them with its tentacles.

He filmed the octopus as it lashed him, and when he returned to shore, he had raised imprints of tentacles across his arm, neck and back. The octopus’ venom isn’t fatal, but it can cause a number of painful symptoms that last until hours after the bite.

As Karlson explains in his post, the octopus squirted ink-like pigment as a defense mechanism against humans. He also explained that octopus tentacles have lashes, which leave a stinging sensation when touched. But, the stings can be treated with vinegar, he told CNN.