If you’re not a fan of creepy crawlies, look away now.
This worm, discovered by a nine-year-old boy in his back garden, is longer than many young children.
New Zealander Barnaby Domigan wanted to keep the roughly one metre-long earthworm, but his parents had other ideas.
Barnaby was pictured with the animal by his dad, Chris, after finding it in a stream outside the family home in Christchurch.
It is around the same length as a four-year-old human.
Mum Jo explained: ‘(Barnaby) was amazed and absolutely in shock that a worm could be so big, and he was very excited.
‘Barnaby was playing in our yard with his siblings – Frankie, Pearl, Abraham and Remi.
‘He was exploring the water to see if there was anything interesting in there and when he found the giant worm he used a stick to pull it out.’
She explained: ‘We didn’t measure it, but he thinks it was as long as both his arms so we imagine it was around one metre long.
‘He called my husband over to quickly take the photo.’
Barnaby, who has become a Kiwi sensation through subsequent media appearances, wanted to keep his unusual discovery – but his parents were less keen on the would-be pet.
‘So he put it back on the edge of the water where he found it,’ Mrs Domigan, 40, laughed.
‘Then I put a picture on Facebook that night, and the next day when we discovered how interested everyone was, we went back out to find it but it had gone, presumed to have floated away.’
Barnaby told ThreeNow: ‘I was shocked because I wasn’t sure if it was a worm, a snake, an eel or who knows what.
‘I really, really wish I still had the worm, like really, because it would’ve been so interesting to keep it because then I could show others and they could just admire how big it was.’
There are thought to be several species of worm in New Zealand capable of growing over 30cm in length.
The largest, the North Auckland Worm (Spenceriella gigantean), is said to be capable of growing to more than a metre long.
John Marris, curator of the entomology research collection at New Zealand’s University of Lincoln, said they were typically found in undisturbed areas like forests.
Map shows the route Queen's coffin will take from Balmoral to EdinburghBut it was rare to find them in a domestic garden, he told the Wellington-based website Stuff.
He added: ‘There are some very large native earthworms known – a metre isn’t beyond the borders of reason.’
Mum Jo said of her son: ‘He thinks it’s wonderful.
‘He has really, really enjoyed all the radio and television interviews and is very excited by how interested the whole world has become.
‘We are so glad that a child out exploring nature has become a global story! And he feels very, very grateful that he was the person who got to find this amazing worm.’
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