Alien intrusion: French territory under siege from huge predatory worms (PICTURES)– RT World News

Biologist Jean-Lou Justine, amateur biologist Pierre Gros, and three other associates performed a five-year study of over 700 sightings of giant worms throughout French area since 1999, and published their findings in the journal PeerJ on Tuesday. 5 years back, Gros started sending Justine images of 3 different and extremely unusual worms he found in his garden.

The alien worms are all clones that replicate asexually. Belonging to Asia, the predatory creatures feed on earthworms. They possess a bioweapon known as ‘tetrodotoxin’ which paralyzes their prey. One of Justine’s colleagues as soon as supposedly put among the flatworms in his mouth and explained it as “among the worst experiences of his life.”

Throughout the course of the research study, the team recognized 5 types of alien worms in France and French overseas territories. Justine initially dismissed the danger posed by the exotic worms as nothing more than a small pest – as, apparently, did other biologists.

“We were astonished that these long and brilliantly coloured worms might escape the attention of scientists and authorities in a European developed country for such a long period of time,” the study notes. Among the worms, the Hammerhead flatworm, can rise to one meter in length “in lengthened state” and slides through the soil like their oceanic equivalents.

Recorded sightings of the alien worms go back as far as 1999 – one family sent the researchers a VHS tape recording they made as the worm was so bizarre. In 2013, a group of kindergarten kids encountered what they believed to be a big, squirming mass of snakes in their playground. An overall of 111 observations of the hammerhead flatworms were made between 1999 and 2017 alone, many of which were made in the south of France where conditions were both damp and temperate enough for the exotic worms to survive.

The French researchers caution that the worms pose a major risk in their brand-new environments. Similar flatworm invasions in Scotland and Ireland lowered yields of farming yard by six percent.

“Just recently, a propensity to deny the threats positioned by non-native types has emerged; in opposition to this ‘denialism,’ we highly believe that intrusive flatworms, as active predators, constitute a threat to native animals wherever they are presented,” the group concluded.

Think your buddies would be intrigued? Share this story!

Biologists are alerting about an invasion of giant predatory worms in French territories across four continents. The infestation has actually gone underreported for nearly 2 decades and presents a risk to animals, according to scientists.