Disturbing find in family backyard leaves Aussies horrified: ‘Stuff of nightmares’

An Aussie family was left terrified when they discovered a 'next level creepy' parasite lurking in their swimming pool.

The disgusting long, black snake-like creature was found in their backyard in South Brisbane and posted on Facebook.

Footage of the disturbing discovery showed the creature writhing on the paving stones and twisting its long, thin body.

The person who captured the footage immediately asked social media users if they knew what the creature said they had no idea.

“Does anyone know what this is?” read the message. 'Is it even a snake? [It] was in our pool.'

Professor Dieter Houchili from the University of Sydney's School of Life and Environmental Sciences said Yahoo it was a horsehair worm.

'They are fascinating animals. I have found them mainly from crickets, locusts and cockroaches after coming into contact with water,” he said.

'The water is the signal the adults use to move from their parasitic stage in the host to their free life stage where they are associated with water.'

Professor Houchili explained that the worms were parasitoids of insects and crustaceans.

He said they thrived on water and could live in their hosts or in the outside world.

They enter the host as larvae and obtain their nutrients from their skin. They will grow and shed their own skin into the host several times until they are large enough to leave.

Emerging from the host usually requires water, which is why they are often seen around pools and puddles, Professor Houchili said.

If there is no water nearby, they can force their host to find water.

“Some of these horsehair worms can take control of the hosts by infecting their brains and driving them to water,” Professor Houchili said.

“The host then chooses to drown itself and place itself exactly where the adult horsehair worm wants to be.”

Horsehair worms are not harmful to humans

In a truly gruesome next step, the large worm will emerge from the back of their host.

However, Australians can breathe a sigh of relief as Professor Houchili confirmed that the worms do not target humans, but prefer insects.

Most social media users were unanimous in their horror, with many saying the parasitoid was “gross.”

“A nightmare,” someone said.

“Next level creepy,” wrote another.

“Of all the things in the world that disgust me, this is right up there,” said one.

Some were in awe of the process the worms go through to grow and survive.

“I was shocked that something so big could exist in something so smaller,” one person wrote.

'Wow. You really learn something new every day,” says another.