Why People Say the Octopus Strikes Again
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On March 18, Lance Karlson was at the embankment with his family in Western Australia's Geographe Bay when he saw a slender bagginess pause the water's surface and strike out at a floating sea gull. Thinking it might be a stingray, Karlson grabbed his 2-year-old daughter and his phone to video whatever wonder of nature awaited in the shallows.
Merely instead of a stingray, Karlson was met with a tentacle lashing from what he afterward dubbed "the angriest octopus in Geographe Bay" in a social media post that has now been viewed more than 300,000 times, Reuters reports.
In the video, when Karlson approaches, the octopod adopts a rather confrontational posture, facing the camera dead on and slowly gliding forwards with its eight limbs neatly coiled. And so, to Karlson's surprise, the octopus suddenly unleashed a multi-armed attack that sent tentacles flying out of the h2o and into the air.
"The octopus lashed out at us, which was a real shock," Karlson tells Reuters via electronic mail.
Despite his professed daze, the video of the encounter is punctuated past a rather placid "Oh, golly!" from Karlson. In an interview with Daniel Victor and Heather White potato of the New York Times Karlson says he regrets his "cheesy, almost British" reaction, but was glad he refrained from swearing in front end of his young daughter.
More amused than frightened by the cephalopod'due south attempted swat, Karlson strapped on his goggles and ventured into the ocean alone most 20 minutes later, per the Times. Around 100 feet from shore, he noticed a strangely organized looking pile of shells nestled on the seafloor.
Every bit he swam for a closer look, Karlson felt a stinging slap on his arm and so again across his cervix and upper back.
"My goggles became fogged, the water was of a sudden murky and I remember existence shocked and dislocated," Karlson tells Reuters.
Once he got to shore, Karlson says streaks of red, stinging welts took shape beyond his arm, neck and dorsum that appeared to mirror the shape of an octopus' sucker-studded arm. The octopus, he thought, got him afterwards all.
Karlson, a former lifeguard, collected his family and returned to their hotel room. After searching in vain for vinegar to care for the stings, he snagged a bottle of soda, which he reasoned might be acidic enough to practice the trick. Luckily, Karlson'due south hunch was correct, as the stinging swiftly abated after his wife poured the soda over the affected areas.
None the worse for habiliment, Karlson harbors no ill will towards the fauna. "This was clearly the octopus'southward domain," he tells Reuters. "I am worried that people will view octopuses in a unlike light. They are astonishing creatures that clearly have some strong emotions (just like u.s.)!"
Only if the stinging welts don't quite audio like the work of an octopus to you lot, so you're in good company. Marine biologist Judit Pungor, who studies octopuses at the University of Oregon, tells the Times in an email that octopuses "do non have venom in their suckers, and any venom they do take (in their bites, non on their arms) would not exist alleviated by pouring something acidic over information technology."
Pungor, tells the Times that what Karlson thought was the octopus coming back to end the chore may take actually been the piece of work of "i of the many stinging, tentacled, jellyfish that are abundant in Australian waters."
But the octopus does withal have to answer for its shallow water testify of force. According to research published late last year, this sort of aggressive-seeming behavior is non unheard of. The authors of the paper documented instances of octopuses "punching" fish that got too close for the eight-armed boxer's liking.
Peter Ulric Tse, a neuroscientist at Dartmouth College who studies octopus cognition, tells the Times via electronic mail that octopuses "tin can express what we would call aggression when they feel threatened or when they experience their territory is nether threat."
"My guess is that the octopus here is sending a warning meaning 'back off,'" he tells the Times later on watching the video. "Octopuses will lunge or shoot an arm out when they feel a fish, another octopus or a man is in their space. I think this is frequently pre-emptive aggression, meant to indicate 'don't mess with me,' rather than aggression seriously meant to harm the 'invader.'"
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Source: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/angriest-octopus-goes-viral-180977414/