Giant Japanese Earthworm

Giant earthworms are legendary in Japan and may have helped spark the interest in ultra-sized monsters which were once a hallmark of Japanese cinema. Reports of enormous ground burrowing beasts were recorded in official records as early as the 18th century, and worms measuring 3 to 5 meters (10 to 15 feet) in length have been spotted in such areas as Hyogo and Okayama prefectures. Unverified reports of still larger worms include testimony of two men who claim to have discovered a piece of a worm measuring 30 cm (1 foot) long and 20 cm (8 inches) in diameter. They calculated the size of the beast to be roughly 10 meters (33 feet)! While hearsay reports must be treated with caution the fact remains that the country of Japan is home to some of the largest ground burrowing creatures on the planet.

Worms (vermes) are invertebrates found throughout much of the world and include a wide variety of terrestrial and aquatic species. Most people are familiar with the earth-burrowing worms so popular with fishermen and gardeners though worm species are adapted to a wide variety of careers; including peaceful vegetarians, aggressive hunters and secretive parasites of plant and animals (including humans). The term "worm" is commonly used in referring to animals which are not true worms, such as insect grubs and centipedes. True worms are collected into roughly a dozen phyla containing hundreds of thousands of species.

---

Appearing in this video:
akihir007 (aka "Shimomura-sensei)
http://www.youtube.com/user/akihir007

----

Videos mentioned:

Japan Mountain Leech vs. Giant Earthworm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpv9P1KOVMQ

Giant Japanese Mountain Toad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8zIg4hSkFY

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Japan
• Japanese
• worm
• akihir007
• softypapa

[Chargersman77]

Imagine the fish you would catch with that

[softypapa]

@Chargersman77 Great point! Immense! ~Kurt :-)

[irit8r]

cool!! in my hometown Auckland New Zealand we have a special species of giant worm that can get upto 1.4 metres long, AND they glow in the dark!! cool huh

[softypapa]

@irit8r Wow! A giant glow-in-the-dark worm! I'd love to see that! Thank you for sharing. Have a great weekend! ~Kurt :-)

[Capponi11]

ITS AN ALASAKAN BULL WORM...... GET SANDY CHEECKS

[IGotHumor]

Finaly something ''giant'' in japan ehh? ehh? thumbs up if you know what I mean.

[DudeitsGrafton]

Haha, sensei seems to be very squeemish around wildlife :P .

[cricket1st]

Please be my teacher.

[JO3GO]

At first i thought the stick he was holding was the worm and i was like "oh cool", then i saw the actual worm and i was like "OH GAWD"

[youngdones]

They have worms at Chernobyl that are several feet long and a few inches in girth.

[nomsurheart]

Japanese people are gonna think all americans like to touch gross things XD

[GOBLINKINGISM]

come to australia we have the worlds largest worms. it would make that look like a baby

[KiriouSs]

not like most youtube videos i actually watched the whole thing :)

[Lerm53]

my turtle will love to eat that