Family find a Wormzilla

Little Emily (20 months) and Gracie (5) Bonasich with Wormzilla. Photo/Ian Bonasich

Is it a rubber hose, an eel, a piece of kelp, a snake?

This is what Ian Bonasich and his son Lochy wondered when they came across a reddy brown strap on the Brynderwyn bush track they were walking last weekend.

At first it looked like a strip of rubber, then an eel, but after a closer look Mr Bonasich was convinced it was a worm.

"I couldn't believe it. I've never seen one that long and I've spent a lot of time in the bush," Mr Bonasich said.

The thing was dead and starting to dry out, lying on an exposed part of the track. The pair took it home, looked it up and, sure enough, found it to be a native earthworm. In its dried and slightly crinkled state, it measured 38cm.

The worm proved a popular show-and-tell item with the Bonasichs' little girls, Gracie, 5, and Emily, 20 months.

The family dubbed the unusual find "Wormzilla" and had much fun with it - "Chasing wifey and scaring her, and what-have-you. The kids were absolutely fascinated by it, they love creepy-crawlies," Mr Bonasich said.

He thought the earthworm might have died in the heat out in the open part of the track, but was surprised it wasn't immediately dined on by birds.

The Advocate was unable to make contact with anyone from DoC or NorthTec's environmental studies faculty but a quick internet search revealed Wormzilla is one of 171 native and 23 introduced earthworm species in New Zealand, Many of the native species grow to 30cm or more and the longest, spenceriella gigantea, to 1.3m.

The bigger species of native worms are mainly confined to areas where the soil is not often disturbed and in forest litter.

As well as being bird tucker, the Northland species are prey to carnivorous native snails. Most of New Zealand's 171 types of earthworm are found nowhere else in the world.

Wormzilla is in the family freezer and Mr Bonasich is happy for DoC or any natural-science organisation to collect it if it is of interest.