Terrifying huge three-metre meat-eating worms leave beachgoers horrified

When it comes to bizarre and sometimes deadly creatures — Australia can be the stuff of nightmares.

But if you thought it was just giant spiders and snakes you had to watch out for — you couldn't be more wrong.

Social media users have now been left horrified after learning about a meat-eating beach worm that hides under the sand on Aussie beaches.

READ MORE: Brits are refusing to go barefoot on the beach over 'scary' fish hidden in sand

The Australonuphis, also known as an Australian beach worm, can grow to be around 3 metres long and lurk beneath the sand surface at the beach, waiting for their next meal.

While they are often caught for bait, the worms have hundreds of segments on their bodies and sharp teeth.

In a clip, shared online by a fisherman who posts under the username TightLinez, the bloke is seen using a piece of dead fish to tease one out of its hiding spot.

Once the creature had latched onto the flesh, he yanked it out of the sand — revealing it to be almost fully grown.

YouTube viewers were left so horrified by the clip that they have vowed to never go barefoot on the beach again.

One person said: "I already wanted to stay away from Australia and now I want to live in another planet with no Australia."

Another added: "Ok that’s one place off the list."

A third wrote: "Yep never going barefoot on a beach again thx!"

"F***en beastly mate," a fourth added.

There are millions of them on beaches in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia and they are valued highly as bait, according to Fishing Australia.

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However, sometimes scary creatures like this are a little closer to home as Brits are refusing to go barefoot at the beach after viral video showing a small but "scary" fish "unlocked" a new fear for viewers.

In the video, which has gained more than 209,000 likes, a man was seen walking on a beach in Norfolk when he came across a small creature hidden in the sand.

He mistook it for a harmless species of fish and stunned viewers as he tried to rescue it from burying itself in the sand instead of swimming away.

But the species has since been identified as a weever fish, that has venomous spines on its back.

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