A seemingly dissatisfied octopus has recently made his feelings known by jumping on a beach traveler near Perth, Western Australia.
Fourteen-year-old novelist panacea Lance Carlson attacked by a disgruntled cephalopod on March 18 while touring Geographe Bay in Dunsborough and left with a painful sting and red marks on his neck. Speaking to Newsnews.com, Carlson explained that he first noticed the octopus when he was looking for a seagull on the surface of the water, an early indication of the animal’s friendly temperament. At this point, he decided to film the octopus, capturing it in the video as well as tenting it towards him in an aggressive way.
About twenty minutes later, Carlson fell into the water and confronted the tented creature as it took refuge in a pile of shells. “I was looking at the shells for a few seconds when I was hitting my arm from behind there,” he said. “My goggles became foggy and then hit my neck again.”
After enduring a sufficient amount of mollusk-based aggression for a day, Carlson quickly returned to shore, at which point the octopus’ tentacles were visible on his neck and upper body. Fortunately, the pain was not too severe and the former surf lifesaver did not require any medical assistance. “The sting wasn’t particularly painful, what happened was more of a push to it and a fear of not being able to see it,” he said.
Finding something acidic to neutralize the sting, Carlson decided to pour Coca-Cola into the wound. “I didn’t really know if Coke would work, but how acidic it was given I decided it was worth trying,” he explained. “It looks like it works.” Although the cause of the animal’s hostile attitude not known, this is not the first time people around them have been seen killing octopuses.
For example, researchers have recently reported that some octopuses tend to punch fish with their tents outside of mere intensity. Describing the creature as “an angry octopus on the shores of geography”, Carlson was lucky that the species he encountered seemed relatively harmless. In contrast, a TikTok user recently uploaded a video of him holding a blue-colored octopus – which seen as the most venomous animal in the world – in the sand. If that animal were in the same mood as the animal on Geographical Beth, things could come out very badly.
