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One family in Singapore was about to settle down for a durian feast on Jul. 18, but were unable to do so.

After they cracked open the husks, they found something else besides the pale creamy durian flesh that might put them off the king of fruits for a while.

Caterpillar inside

Jerald Justin Ko from the Power 98 radio station posted a video of the mildly horrifying incident to TikTok.

Speaking to Mothership, he shared that his family had bought about 10 Mao Shan Wang durians from a stall near Lorong 31 Geylang at around 5pm.

In total, they spent roughly S$80 to S$100 on the fruits.

The durians were meant for a family gathering later that day.

Ko said as he was in the kitchen preparing food for dinner, he heard his mother start screaming.

"So my natural reaction was to run out with my phone and record lol."

This what was he captured.

@jeraldjustinjkDurian Season SURPRISE 😂♬ 오리지널 사운드 - 𝕐𝕄

Nestled next to the flesh of the durian was a plump reddish grub inching about.

No more durian

Ko estimated that the "huge *ss" insect was around the thickness of his little finger. "And I have chubby fingers," he added.

Repulsed by the sight, his mother kept screaming vulgarities, and asked Ko to take the durian away, plastic bag and all. However, Ko did not dare to do so.

Amid the ruckus, Ko said his wife remained busy with a work call, while his children had "no idea what was going on".

Eventually, his wife emerged to discard the entire durian.

To be fair, only one out of the 10 durians Ko bought contained a caterpillar.

Ko's mother shared that she would still use the flesh from the other opened durians to make durian desserts.

"I'm defo (definitely) not eating those desserts," Ko quipped.

When asked if Ko would return to the durian stall to inform the sellers about the caterpillar found inside their wares, Ko said that considering the price of each durian was rather cheap at S$10 each, he would simply avoid patronising that particular stall again.

"And no durians for awhile."

A durian pest

In case you're wondering, the caterpillar Ko and his family found is the larvae of a group of moths belonging to the Mudaria genus.

The species in this group are called Durian seed borers, and are considered pests of the fruit.

Adult moths lay eggs on the fruit, and the larvae bore into the fruit to eat the seed. They live inside the fruit until it is mature, and leave brown frass (or poop) on the durian flesh.

Top photo from jeraldjustinjk / TikTok