He discovered it was an octopus only when he walked closer with his two-year-old daughter, and was filming a video of it when it suddenly struck in their direction. Karlson said he was about to take a dip near the resort where he and his family were staying at in Geographe Bay when he saw what he thought was the tail of a stingray striking a seagull. However, he said that he knew anything acidic may help, and decided to try using cola.

The former lifeguard told Australian news outlet 7News that his preferred treatment for sea animal stings was vinegar, but he did not have any on him at the time. The tentacles left stinging red welts on his skin, which Karlson said only eased after he poured cola over them. The creature came after him again later and struck him on the arm, before whipping his neck and upper back. In a video that has gone viral, the octopus can be seen in shallow waters lashing out at geologist Lance Karlson. Mr Karlson said he did not know the species but it may have been an Octopus tetricus, otherwise known as a ‘gloomy octopus’.Ī species of octopus closely related to the East Australian ‘gloomy octopus’ is found in Western Australia, and is known to hide in crevices on sand or in mud.Lance Karlson says the octopus lashed out at him and his daughter Photo: INSTAGRAM/ Lance Karlson Mr Karlson was holidaying in Geographe Bay, Western Australia, when the incident occurred ‘The pain went away quickly, it was more the physical hit that had hurt.’ ‘We did not have any vinegar/acid to pour over the stings so my wife poured coke over me, which helped enormously,’ he said. The former lifeguard told his wife to pour Coke on his neck to stop the stinging. ‘My goggles were too fogged to see what had happened and I swam back to shore in pain the imprints of the tentacles quickly formed raised marks across my skin.’ I was then hit again over my neck,’ he recalled.

‘As I was looking at the shells underwater I was hit across my arm. Mr Karlson said when he went for a swim about 20 minutes later he saw the ‘sea monster’ sitting on a large pile of crab shells. ‘I walked with my daughter in my arms up to the octopus and took the video the octopus lashed out at us.’Īuthor Lance Karlson called his attacker a ‘sea monster’ in a scathing social media post ‘ I saw the tentacles of an octopus come out of the water and lash out at a seagull. ‘I thought it was a stingray at first,’ he told Daily Mail Australia. Mr Karlson described the animal as ‘the angriest octopus in Geographe Bay’. ‘Angry’ octopus lashed out at unsuspecting father, leaving vicious red marks on his neck He videoed the octopus splaying in the crystal clear water, before it pounced on his neck when he turned his back. Lance Karlson, 34, first saw the marine creature when it lashed out at a seagull near Ramada resort at Geographe Bay in Dunsborough, Western Australia, while walking with his two-year-old daughter on the beach.

Mr Karlson described the animal as ‘the angriest octopus in Geographe Bay’Ī former lifeguard has been attacked at an idyllic holiday spot by an ‘angry’ octopus that wrapped its tentacles around his neck.

The father-of-one was launched at by the ‘sea monster’ in Dunsborough in WA.

A former lifeguard has been viciously attacked by an ‘angry’ octopus.

Terrifying moment angry octopus attacks a lifeguard standing on the shore – moments before wrapping its tentacles around his NECK

Lance karlson octopus video