In fact, there was no need for Xiang Yang to give this order. When a group of crew members heard Xiang Yang say that these golden threadfish were worth one hundred yuan per catty, they all took it seriously and would definitely ensure that all the golden threadfish returned to the Qinglongwan waters fresh.
A group of people full of energy.
Fang Youqun was cleaning up his catch while muttering, "It's a pity that the sawfish got away, otherwise that sawfish alone would be worth more than all these fish combined."
Xiang Yang smiled and was about to speak, when suddenly his eyes focused and he saw a hint of golden color under a pile of squids.
Xiang Yang immediately ran over and moved the squid away.
In an instant, everyone's attention was drawn to that place.
There is no other reason, it’s just that this fish is too famous.
With its golden appearance, almost everyone has heard of it.
"Brother Yang, could this be?" Fang Youqun asked in shock.
"That's right." Xiang Yang took a deep breath and immediately picked up the fish. "This is a real big yellow croaker."
"hiss!"
There was a sound of people gasping for air all around.
Fang Youqun immediately ran to Xiang Yang and said, "Brother Yang, I'll go and raise this fish."
"No need to raise it." Xiang Yang sighed, "This fish can no longer survive."
Yellow croaker is a relatively deep-water fish. Unless they swim to the diving layer and are caught, they almost die as soon as they come out of the water.
It may be an exaggeration to say that one will die if one enters the water, but it is actually quite true.
Anyone who has gone sea fishing knows that many deep-water fish will have a bulging bubble in their mouths after being caught.
That bubble is actually the fish bladder.
If a deep-water fish suddenly leaves the deep water area, the swim bladder will expand rapidly or even explode due to the change in pressure. At this time, the only way to save the deep-water fish is to immediately deflate the swim bladder with a deflation needle.
Once a fish opens its mouth so that its swim bladder can be seen with the naked eye, even a deity cannot save it.
"What should we do then?" Fang Youqun asked.
"Take an empty foam box and freeze the big yellow croaker."
Fang Youqun did as he was told immediately.
A large yellow croaker is definitely worthy of its own foam box. The large yellow croaker is very valuable and it is a fish that can be displayed in a formal setting.
Especially in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas, a banquet in Wenzhou may not include abalone, shark's fin, and bird's nest, but a large yellow croaker is absolutely indispensable.
Even in the minds of the older generation of Wenzhou people, the presence or absence of yellow croaker at a banquet is a sign of whether the banquet is formal or not. If this delicacy is missing from a banquet, the seriousness of the situation is comparable to the bride being missing from a wedding.
There are also many bosses in Shanghai who are particularly fond of this kind of fish. They would feel embarrassed and uncool if the fish is missing in the conversation when talking about food and drinks.
In fact, the real name of the big yellow croaker is stonehead fish, because it gets its name because of the otoliths hidden in its head.
Tu Benjun wrote in "Sea Flavors and Secrets": "Yellow croaker is called stone head because there are two white stones hidden in its brain, hence the name."
Li Shizhen also wrote in Compendium of Materia Medica: "It lives in the southeast sea. It looks like a white fish, with a flat body and weak bones. Its scales are yellow like gold. There are two white stones on its head, which are as bright and clear as jade."
When talking about Shishou, we have to mention the origin of the word Shishou.
It is said that the name "Shishou" was given by the King of Wu.
According to historical records, in the tenth year of Helü's reign, the Dongyi invaded the State of Wu. The King of Wu personally led his troops to fight against them and drove the Dongyi into the sea. The two sides confronted each other on the sandbar for more than a month.
Due to the strong winds and waves at sea, the grain ships could not arrive. The King of Wu burned incense and prayed, asking for God's blessing. Suddenly, he saw "golden" approaching from the water on the sea, cruising around the King of Wu's fleet in layers. The scene was very spectacular.
The King of Wu then ordered his men to catch the fish and cook it. When the soldiers ate it, they all praised the fish for its delicious taste. The morale of the three armies was high and they defeated the Dongyi in one fell swoop.
When the king of Wu returned, the remaining yellow croaker on the boat had been dried, but it still tasted delicious, so the king added the word "fish" under the word "beautiful", and it was called "鲞" fish. Because this fish without a name was golden and had a bone as hard as a stone on its head, it was called stonehead fish.
In fact, stonehead fish does not only refer to yellow croaker.
Stonefish is a general term for about 160 species of fish in the family Sciaenidae of the order Perciformes. In addition to the common large yellow croaker, small yellow croaker, whitebait, croaker, and yellow croaker, there are also the very precious yellow croaker and hairy catfish.
These fish all belong to the Sciaenidae family of the class of bony fish and are very similar in appearance. So much so that in real life many people can clearly describe various cooking methods for yellow croaker, but are at a loss as to the difference between large yellow croaker and its brothers and really cannot tell them apart.
"Brother Yang, will that big yellow croaker still be valuable after it's dead?" Fang Youqun ran back and asked after dealing with the big yellow croaker.
"Nonsense, it's one of my country's four traditional seafoods and the most important economic fish in my country's coastal waters. Do you think it's valuable?" Xiang Yang asked back.
A wild adult yellow croaker can be worth at least several thousand yuan.
The one Xiang Yang caught weighed four or five kilograms. Even if it was dead, it would be worth at least tens of thousands of yuan if sold.
Xiang Yang asked his men to clear away all the squids. He wanted to see if he could find a few more large yellow croakers. If he could find a few more of these valuable and rare seafood, they would be enough to offset the harvest from this net.
Unfortunately, Xiang Yang searched all the sea fish for yellow croaker but only found this one.
However, Xiang Yang was not without gain. While searching for yellow croaker, Xiang Yang also found four large lobsters. Lobsters are creatures that are very easy to get caught in the net. Even if they are not in the net, they can easily be caught and brought out of the water. These lobsters are all relatively large, each weighing three or four pounds, which means they can earn several thousand yuan.
"Put these four big lobsters in the water tank." Xiang Yang stopped Chen Qingsheng who was about to open the live water tank.
According to Xiang Yang's idea, it would take a long time before they return from this voyage, and they would definitely encounter other rare catches along the way. The live water tank is not something that seafood worth thousands of dollars can live in.
He Mingde smiled and looked at Xiang Yang, "Xiaoyang, I only encountered totoaba a few times a year in my previous fleet. We have only been out to sea a few times, and we have already encountered totoaba twice, right?"
Xiang Yang smiled and nodded, "Yes, that's right. Last time we encountered a small yellow croaker, and this time we caught a big yellow croaker. It would be great if we could catch a yellow croaker someday."
The most valuable of all the stonehead fish is undoubtedly the yellow croaker, especially the yellow croaker's fish bladder, which is known as "as valuable as gold". In Huangqi Town, Lianjiang County, Fujian Province, there is a story about a "poor man who became rich overnight":
An old bachelor in his fifties from a poor family picked up a 100-jin fish that had fainted in the sea not far from the shore and sold it to a fishmonger for 3 million yuan. The 100-jin fish was a yellow croaker.