Giant Predatory Worms Quietly Invaded France, And Biologists Are Shocked

Earthworms can be a gardener's friend, but some green-thumbed French folk have some unwanted invertebrate visitors that are quite shocking! They have been finding worms that are so scary and large that they have been mistaken as snakes by children. They look like something that would crawl out of your body orifices in a Ridley Scott movie. A childhood memory of a visit to a worm farm in Fall City WA has remained with me all these years, and I recently visited the man who owned it during the 70's. If he had been raising these giant poisonous Asian worms instead of sweet lovable earthworms, the worm farm memories probably would have been the source of life-long nightmares! I like animals, but these things are creepy!

SOURCE ARTICLE

When Jean-Lou Justine received the first photograph of a giant worm with a head like a shovel, the biologist was astounded. Hammerhead flatworms, which grow to a foot or more in length, do not belong in European vegetable gardens.

"We do not have that in France," said Justine, a professor at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. The predatory worms are native to Asia, where they happily gobble up earthworms under a warmer sun. The gardener who took the first photo, an amateur naturalist named Pierre Gros, emailed Justine a second picture a week later. It was of a completely different species of giant worm. When Gros sent a third photograph, of a third species, Justine thought the images must be a prank: "The man is bringing back worms from his travels, and he pretends he finds them in his garden!"

Just as hammerhead sharks cruise through lagoons, hammerhead flatworms hunt through soil. Their soft bodies are chemical factories; they produce small amounts of a substance called tetrodotoxin to immobilize prey. What they lack in physical defenses, they make up in a cocktail of disgusting bodily juices. A colleague once tried to put a flatworm in his mouth, Justine recounted. The man still describes it as "one of the worst experiences of his life."

Please read the SOURCE ARTICLE to learn the whole story!

a reply to: seattlerat

It looks like a lamprey or a giant leech; either way it's a big nope from me.

I love worms because they are great for the garden, but I don't want one of these gnawing on my leg.

Time to go a fishin

Well, I bet they would make good bait for fishing, I think they may be tasty for fish.

a reply to: seattlerat

Why is this in pets?! Those things are gruesome. Shouldn't this be in some doom porn forum??

Why, oh why, did I click on this thread?!? WHY?!?

a reply to: seattlerat

This creature might be enough to put me off of gardening for life.

This is horrifying.

I definitely feel for anyone encountering these.

originally posted by: NarcolepticBuddha
a reply to: seattlerat

Why is this in pets?! Those things are gruesome. Shouldn't this be in some doom porn forum??

Posted it here in Pets forum because animal related topics are always moved there by mods so I'm saving them the trouble.

It would be great if there was a separate forum for topics related to non-human earth-based biology (not including cryptozoology)

a reply to: seattlerat

They don't really explain why in God's name someone put one of these things in their mouth!

Just whyyyy?!

It’s France. I’m sure they’ll find a way to eat them.

originally posted by: AgarthaSeed
a reply to: seattlerat

They don't really explain why in God's name someone put one of these things in their mouth!

Just whyyyy?!

People will try anything just to get high.

a reply to: seattlerat

I dunno if this is the right forum for this...I sure wouldn't want that # as a pet....but holy # those things are disgusting. Especially the part where all they do is secrete fairly disgusting chemicals....im not the biggest fan of worms....mostly because parasitic worms are #ing horrifying...I would not be excited to fins that thing outside somewhere.

It is a slug even though they do call them worms as well .
en.wikipedia.org...

A worm to me is one that lives in the ground a slug on the otehr hand lives above ground and likes gardens .
earth worm pin worm most of the rest are slugs

a reply to: midnightstar



Sorry to nerd out on you but a slug is a mollusk where this worm like creature is a plenerian which is much more primitive then a annelid worm or slug mollusk.

These worms don't even have a complete digestion system both food and poop go through the same hole.

Yep, France, it's only a matter of time.

a reply to: ketsuko

I see your movie and raise you with this one.

a reply to: ntech



Or this ... saw it as a kid and it scared the crap out of me!

a reply to: ntech

I saw that on VHS as a kid .

Big worms? has to be Tremors.

I was going to post the Tremors trailer but found the new TV series with Bacon .

The proper Slither preview.

a reply to: seattlerat

The lyric from the song Needles by System of a Down is playing in my head right now.

"Pull the tapeworm outta your ass hey!"