This goosebump-inducing footage showing a man finding a massive worm with a head like a hammerhead shark has been viewed more than ten million times.

Danish Ho was hiking with his family when he came across what he believed was a snake, but which was in fact a 'hammerhead worm' (Bipalium) - the world's largest flatworm species.

The scary creature, which looks like it has come straight out of a science-fiction film, is considered invasive in the US and Europe.

This goosebump-inducing footage showing a man finding a massive worm with a head like a hammerhead shark has been viewed more than ten million times

The family, from the city of Johor Bahru, capital of Malaysia's southern Johor state, had never seen anything like it before.

Pictures and a video of the slithering worm have been shared some 82,000 times in Malaysia at the time of writing - discounting views and shares on social media sites in other countries.

In the clip, Mr Ho said: 'What sort of snake is this?'

After posting the video on social media, he received a response in the comment section informing him that he had come across one of the world's most freaky planarian species.

Danish Ho was hiking with his family when he came across what he believed was a snake, but which was in fact a 'hammerhead worm' (Bipalium) - the world's largest flatworm species

The hammerhead worm is just as scary as it looks. It is is carnivorous and traps its prey using the slime it produces. It lies on top of its catch and sucks its bodily juices out by jamming its pharynx into its victim.

But when there is nothing around to eat, the hammerhead worm has been known to eat itself by digesting its own tissues - even its reproductive organs.

As if that were not frightening enough, the creature lays eggs but can also reproduce by means of 'fragmentation' - ripping pieces of itself off and allowing the detached section to grow a new head within ten days.

To top it all off, this creature has no respiratory system, no circulatory system, no skeleton, and its mouth doubles up as an anus, according to the Australian Geographic.