By Tangel45
United States 
My mom found a really really really thin white-ish translucent (almost opaque) worm Its about 1-2 inches long. She found it in our backyard. I've attempted to google the answer. So far the closest answer i have come to is that it is a "horsehair worm." I was hoping somebody on here would be able to help me. (and calm down my little brother who watches too many movies and believes its going to go into his heart and grow into a huge monster that will rip itself out later.) I put it in a bottle and took inside. It usually just coiled around itself. I took it out and took pictures of it to post on here. I had to untangle it and hold its head (or butt lol I'm not quite sure what end it was) down with a nail trimmer. I left some black marks from the pencil i used to help me lay it out. Anybody know anything?
17 Jun, 2011
Answers
I agree, nematode - this one's commonly known as horsehair worm. Tell your brother it comes in peace;-)
17 Jun, 2011
It looks and sounds like a type of nematode. These are very common tiny worms, found everywhere - in soil, in and on other animals, in and on plants, you name it. Some are so small you'd need a microscope to see them, the one you found sounds like one of the larger ones. Specific types of nematodes are used as a biological control for slugs and snails. Gardeners buy the nematodes in a dormant state, add water and sprinkle them onto the soil where they go to work seeking out slugs and parasitising them, so killing them.
You can read more on Wikipedia -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nematode
Scroll down through anything too complicated and read the bit about Free Living Species - which is what you probably found.
17 Jun, 2011