'It looked like a snake!' Chinese man finds 19-inch long EARTHWORM in his backyard (and now plans to raise it himself)

An earthworm measuring half a metre in length has stunned neighbours after being found in the gutter outside a house.

Li Zhiwei, a worker from the Forestry Bureau of Binchuan County, was putting some dates out to dry in his backyard when he spotted the massive invertebrate.

'It looked like a snake. I looked carefully and found it was actually a huge earthworm.' he said.

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Goliath: This giant earthworm has stunned neighbours after being discovered outside a house in China

Snake-like: The half-metre-long invertebrate was found in a gutter by Li Zhiwei, a worker from the Forestry Bureau of Binchuan County

He plans to raise the worm at his house.

According to www.kplctv.com , b iologists intend to study the soil-dweller to determine its classification and understand why it has been able to grow so long in a built-up area.

An earthworm's size is closely related to its environment. They tend to grow longer during humid seasons if they absorb the right nutrition and have no natural enemies.

Depending on the species, an adult earthworm grow to anything from 10mm long and 1mm wide to 3m long and more than 25mm across.

Marvel: Biologists intend to study the soil-dweller to determine its classification and understand why it has been able to grow so long in a built-up area