It looks nasty – and it is. Deadly, in fact.

Staff at the Co-op store in Wayfield, Chatham, got a nasty shock when a Brazilian Wandering Spider, said to be the most venomous in the world, popped out from a bunch of bananas.

Assistant Kate Whitmore was stacking a fresh delivery of the fruit when she felt something furry and then saw black, hairy legs.

She didn’t realise it at the time but she’d had a lucky escape. The unwelcome visitor can inject a potentially lethal dose of venom.

Meanwhile, it has emerged that Medway is also “home” to colonies of another spider species which can also bite.

One feature of the Segastria Florentina, is its iridescent green fangs. Arachnophobes might be reassured to learn the critters prefer to hide not munch.

For more on this story see Friday's print edition of the Medway Messenger.