Fact-Check: Was a Tiny & Poisonous Snake Found Inside a Bell Pepper?

Experts have said the parasites in the video are harmless to humans.

The video showing an insect inside a bell pepper has been posted with similar claims on social media since 2019.

(Source: Altered by The Quint)

A video showing a very fine, thin and tiny worm emerging from inside a green bell pepper is going viral on the internet.

What are the users saying?: Users have claimed and cautioned that it is the "world's tiniest and poisonous snake" that was found inside green bell peppers.

(Warning: The video can be queasy for some viewers.)

An archive of the claim can be found here. 

(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

(Archives of similar claims can be found here, here and here.)

What is the truth?: The worm in the viral video is not a snake. It is a worm that is not poisonous.

• According to experts, it is a Mermithid Nematode or Horsehair Worm Nematomorpha.

How did we find out?: We did a Google reverse image search and found out that this is an old video and has been circulating since 2019.

• We reached out to the Head of the Botany Department at Delhi University, Dr Suman Lakhanpaul and Indian Agricultural Research Institute's Nematology Division's, Dr Vishal Somvanshi.

• Both of them dismissed the claims it was a snake.

• Dr Somvanshi said it could be "a Mermithid Nematode or a Horsehair Worm Nematomorpha", both of which are parasites, however, a confirmation would have been possible only after a closer inspection.

• He further explained that these parasitises emerge from dead insect cadavers.

• "Adult worms also climb up plants to lay eggs on plants and grass blades. These eggs are ingested by insects and worms hatch inside insects. Some insect might have entered this bell pepper and this worm might have emerged out from it," he said.

• Lastly, he said that both "parasites are harmless to humans."

• The same claim has been fact-checked earlier by AFP and Snopes who also found similar conclusions.

Conclusion: The video falsely claims that the parasite worm inside a bell pepper is a poisonous snake.

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