The Hammerhead flatworm can grow up to a foot long. Some have hit 15 inches. And it doesn't need to mate to reproduce. Ashley Morgan Olvera with the Texas Invasive Species Institute says "they often reproduce just by simply splitting off. So a lot of people tend to cut up these flatworms when they see them. In the end that's actually just helping that flatworm regenerate into more.
Each piece grows it's own head. The head is shaped like a hammerhead shark, but rounded. Morgan Olvera says do not squish it as pieces could fall off and make new worms. Instead pick it up with a stick, or paper towel, preferably while wearing gloves and put it, along with some salt in a plastic baggie. "Then you seal the bag and throw it away. The important parts are getting all of the flatworm and sealing the bag so it cannot escape when you dispose it."
It is an invasive species because it cases harm. This worm poses an ecological threat as it is a predator of earthworms which are necessary for our trees, plants and soil.
And don't touch them. They secrete neurotoxic chemicals in their skin which helps them digest earthworms and also protect them from predators. "It can cause skin irritation for humans, nothing that couldn't be managed. What is poses more of a threat to is our pets because they are usually eating the flatworm and those chemicals are being secreted inside their stomach and it usually causes the animal to throw the flatworm back up. And then the flatworm will keep on living."
Morgan Olvera says her institute has been tracking the worm in Texas and thought them to be more in the Houston area.
They are now getting reports out of North Texas and says these pests appear widespread in East and Central Texas.
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