Sandworm

Sandworm may refer to:

Living animals (smallish worms of sandy substrate):

• Arenicola marina (Lugworm), called "sandworm" in the UK
• Alitta virens, formerly Nereis virens (King Ragworm), called "sandworm" in the US
• Hookworm larvae which cause cutaneous larva migrans, called "sandworms" in the southern US

Cryptids:

• The Mongolian Death-worm is said to inhabit the Gobi Desert.
• The Sumerian chthonic deity Ker is a great burrowing serpent or worm whose digestive track is also a doorway to The Underworld.

Fictional animals (huge desert creatures): "Sandworms", sometimes referred to by other names specific to a given work of fiction, are a somewhat common semi-legendary beast that lurks under the desert sand not unlike a man-eating shark lurking beneath the waves of a body of water.

• Sandworm (Dune), in films and novels
• Sandworms, creatures featured in the film Beetlejuice and more heavily in its spin-off TV series
• The Graboids of the Tremors (film) franchise are classic sandworms in their first two larval stages.
• Several worm-like creatures in Dungeons & Dragons grow to gargantuan size and have in their various incarnations over the many editions of and supplements to the game resembled traditional sandworms to some degree.
  • The Purple Worm
• The Chthonians of H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.