This terrifying flesh-eating poisonous underwater monster could RUIN your summer holiday
Scary beastie spotted in the waters of a country that's becoming increasingly popular with British tourists
More than 900,000 Brits flock to Thailand every year in search of sun, sand and spicy shrimp soup.
But you might think twice about diving into the tropical nation's crystal clear seas when you hear about a terrifying beast that's been found living in Thai waters.
Researchers have which is 20cm long with a taste for flesh and a sting so painful it would reduce the toughest person to a quivering mess.
It is the first water dwelling centipede that's ever been discovered and is pretty much the most appalling thing anyone could encounter during a sexy skinny dip.
“Wherever I go in the world, I always turn over rocks beside streams, and that’s where I found this centipede, which was quite a surprise,” George Beccaloni of the Natural History Museum in London told National Geographic.
“It was pretty horrific-looking: very big with long legs and a horrible dark, greenish-black color."
This terrifying encounter happened back in 2001 and ended with Beccaloni capturing the beastie and storing its body in his museum in London.
Despite claiming he had identified a new species, the bug botherer was unable to prove his claims - until now.
Beccaloni's fellow researchers found two more of the disgusting creatures swimming near a waterfall in Laos.
These newly discovered centipedes were compared to Beccaloni's and it was decided that it was a never-before-seen species called Scolopendra cataracta, which uses the Latin word for 'waterfall'.
These monster bugs would terrify anyone unlucky enough to encounter them in the water, but they can also crawl out to terrorise sunbathers as they relax on dry land.
"Other Scolopendra hunt on land," Beccaloni continued.
"I would bet this species goes into the water at night to hunt aquatic or amphibious invertebrates.”
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A bite from this horror bug would cause red hot burning pain to shoot through an arm or leg, which would then hurt for several days.
Whilst any physical damage is likely to heal in less than a week, the psychological trauma of encountering this appalling beast could last a lot, lot longer.
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