Geologist and author Lance Karlson was attacked by an octopus in Geographe Bay in Western Australia on March 18. "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. Bryan Fry, an associate professor at the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Queensland, identified the octopus as a common Octopus vulgaris. "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 told CNN Friday. Karlson said he'd never seen an octopus that close before and watched Netflix documentary " My Octopus Teacher " after the incident to learn more about the cephalopods.

Source: CNN April 02, 2021 11:26 UTC