Nema-what?

We were outside this afternoon soaking up some glorious sun in the garden after a couple of dreary weather days, absent-mindedly pulling weeds when we came upon these.
At first I thought they were just some roots or some fungal hyphae, but then they started to wriggle around! They were twisting and curling in a most fascinating way in Superboy’s hand and I told him I thought they must be nematodes, though I’d never seen some this long before.
“Nema-whats?” asked Superboy. “I thought they were worms!”
This led to an interesting discussion about the three main types of worms: Round Worms (Nematodes), Flat Worms (Platyhelminthes), and Segmented Worms (Annelids) and how to tell them apart, and about how worms can be good or bad for our gardens (or our health), importance of washing hands after gardening or playing in the dirt, and how some folks mistakenly call caterpillars worms.
We decided that since we did not know if these worms were beneficial or harmful, we would remove them from our garden just in case, so Superboy tossed them into the pasture to happily inhabit a manure pile.
A very productive afternoon.