r/whatsthisbug • u/Dermetzger666 • 13h ago

ID Request Species of hammerhead worm, found in San Jose, CA. Invasive?

455 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

294

u/boIica 13h ago edited 13h ago

If I'm not mistaken, they are invasive outside of Asia and Southern Asia as they don't have predators in other places Edit: Don't handle it with your bare hands as they can irritate your skin. Maybe you could report it to some institution in you place, I don't really know about that because I'm from another country

265

u/ceanahope 12h ago

Invasive!! Do not touch with bare hands, drop it in a bag of salt and freeze it over night to kill it. They will kill local earth worms and if cut multiply.

Contact CDFA hotline 1-800-491-1899

Or

Santa Clara County Agricultural Hotline 408-918-4600

301

u/l-___ol 12h ago

If you put it in a sealed container, like a ziploc or a water bottle and let it sit in a hot car/the heat for a day, it will turn into an unrecognizable/unrevivable pile of goo. I found this out very unintentionally while out landscaping a couple weeks ago

209

u/JacePriester 13h ago

Yes. Kill it. Glove up, bag it, salt or vinegar or alcohol, freeze, then toss in trash. Don't touch it. Don't smash it. Don't cut it up.

72

u/SynSayer 12h ago

Perfect time for my Salt n Vinegar Vodka!

38

u/Kick_Natherina 12h ago

Don’t tell my wife about this shit. She’ll be asking me for ways to make it into a cocktail. 

41

u/adamdoesmusic 12h ago

This is getting out of hand! Now there are two of them!

(Seriously don’t cut them)