Some scientists theorize that the worms can lengthen their bodies, thus becoming slim enough for two of them to fit in the burrows alongside each other, but no one really knows for sure how it happens. No one really knows how giant Gippsland earthworms copulate, as surfacing seems unlikely due to the threat of predators, and their underground burrows are barely wide enough for one specimen to pass through at a time. The toxins used in agriculture, and its vulnerability to physical injuries due to its sheer size haven’t helped things, and neither has the species’ mating habits. The invertebrates are important decomposers of organic matter and help improve soil health by promoting aeration and recycling nutrients.Although the giant earthworms to adapt and survive in their endemic home despite it having changed drastically in the last two centuries is amazing, human activity has put the species on the endangered list. In all, more than 7,000 earthworm species exist in moist soils across all continents, except for Antarctica.
They usually live in undisturbed areas, like forests.Īmong New Zealand’s more than 200 earthworm species, the largest is a rarely seen creature called the North Auckland worm ( Anisochaeta gigantea), which grows to be almost five feet long. Still, he says, it’s uncommon to find a giant earthworm in a garden. “There are some very large native earthworms known-a meter isn’t beyond the borders of reason,” he tells the publication. Though the massive worm looks “a bit like the creature from the black lagoon,” it’s actually likely to be a native earthworm species, says John Marris, curator of the entomology research collection at Lincoln University in New Zealand, to Stuff. “We’ve had some big worms here in the past, but nothing like that guy. “Thankfully, I was at work when said worm was found because, oh my word, how disgusting!” she tells the publication. For her part, she thought that the worm looked unappealing and a bit bloated. “I thought it was massive, and amazing, and a little bit disgusting,” he says to Liz McDonald from Stuff.ĭomigan’s mother, Jo, tells RNZ her son was “pretty delighted” to find it. “I could not believe my eyes,” Domigan tells RNZ, adding that he named the creature “Dead Fred.” He grabbed a stick, fished it out and discovered it was a three-foot-long, dead earthworm, reports Radio New Zealand (RNZ). Nine-year-old Barnaby Domigan was playing in his family’s backyard in Christchurch, New Zealand, when he noticed something bobbing in the water of a nearby riverbed.
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