Xiang Yang always has three types of fishing nets on his boat, namely dense net, fine net and medium net.
In fact, to catch pufferfish, you need to use a fine-mesh fishing net. Pufferfish, which look like tadpoles, have a strong ability to drill holes and can easily drill through holes that are much smaller than their bodies. A ten-centimeter-long pufferfish can easily drill out of the holes in a fine-mesh fishing net.
But pufferfish are now an endangered species. Wild pure freshwater pufferfish are almost extinct. Some big hotels offer a price of three to four thousand yuan per catty, which is almost as high as that of blue crucian carp and tuna, and even they are out of stock. The price of pufferfish in the ocean is lower, but it has also been hyped up to thousands of yuan per catty. It is not easy to encounter a group of pufferfish in the ocean, and Xiang Yang has never thought of killing them all.
Soon, a fine-mesh fishing net was cast into the sea from the stern of the drift fishing boat, and the fishing boat slowed down to trawle.
"Zhou Wang, close the net!" Xiang Yang said into the intercom ten minutes later.
After receiving the order, Zhou Wang immediately directed the two new crew members to operate the winch. With the roar of the winch machine, the fishing net was slowly dragged onto the deck.
"I'm rich." Uncle Xiang kept stretching his neck to look at the fishing net, and finally he smiled happily when he saw the big bag of fish wrapped inside the net when it came out of the water.
"Isn't this efficiency too high?" Xiang Chen was also amazed. He had been fishing for many years, and the mountains of catch he could get with one cast of the net simply refreshed his worldview.
"The good days are yet to come. Don't just stand there. Clean up the catch quickly." Xiang Yang gave loud orders as soon as the fishing net was dragged onto the deck but before it was untied.
"Yes, clean up the catch quickly. The puffer fish needs to be raised in seawater. It will be worthless if it dies." Uncle Xiang also said loudly.
The fishing net was untied, and a large group of pufferfish with flat bodies, the shortest of which was about ten centimeters long and the longest one even over 40 centimeters long, were jumping around on the deck. After a while, a bunch of round "balloons" appeared on the deck.
In addition to being highly poisonous, pufferfish also has a special ability to defend against enemies. Its stomach can suck in large amounts of water or air, causing its body to instantly swell into a bubble-like shape and float to the surface, so that the enemy has no time to catch and kill it.
When a pufferfish turns into a balloon, it will stand up the spines on its skin like a hedgehog for self-defense. Even if it is caught by other animals, the inflated and prickly pufferfish will make it difficult for the other animals to swallow it.
Xiang Yang held a "big ball" with a diameter of more than 40 centimeters and put it in an aquarium. "All the pufferfish longer than 30 centimeters were picked out and kept separately. Don't mix them with the small pufferfish."
An adult pufferfish can generally grow to a size of ten to thirty centimeters. The prices of pufferfish within this range are similar. Pufferfish that are larger than thirty centimeters are more valuable and their value immediately doubles.
"Come, I'll do it." Uncle Xiang walked to the tank where the big pufferfish, which was more than 40 centimeters long, was. He slowly stroked the back of the pufferfish's head with one hand. After a while, the big "balloon" with a diameter of more than 40 centimeters slowly narrowed and soon returned to the appearance of a normal pufferfish.
Of course, there are more than just pufferfish in this net. Pufferfish are omnivorous creatures, and their diet includes fish, shrimp, crab, shellfish, and even some floating algae and plant leaves. They are at the bottom of the marine food chain, have no sense of territory, and can live together with many marine life groups.
"Don't throw these worthless sea fish into the water tank. It's a waste of tank space. Throw them in the freezer and freeze them." Xiang Yang saw someone throwing all kinds of fish into the water tank and hurriedly stopped them.
After a busy period, they finally finished cleaning up the catch. The total catch was more than 3,000 kilograms, of which 1,000 kilograms were puffer fish. Although the remaining 2,000 kilograms of sea fish were not very valuable, they could still be sold wholesale at an average price of ten yuan per kilogram.
"What a good start!" Uncle Xiang found Xiang Yang and said excitedly, "Our profit from this net is definitely more than one million."
Xiang Yang also calculated silently, and was shocked when he calculated. Even without counting the more than two thousand kilograms of cheap sea fish in this net, the value of the puffer fish alone was more than one million.
In fact, pufferfish were more valuable in previous years. At that time, the conditions for artificial breeding of pufferfish were not yet mature, but freshwater pufferfish in rivers, lakes and reservoirs were almost extinct. At that time, the Yangtze River pufferfish, which was known as one of the three fresh delicacies of the Yangtze River, was hyped up to a sky-high price of 7,000 to 8,000 yuan per catty. The value of pufferfish in the sea also rose accordingly, reaching 3,000 to 4,000 yuan per catty.
In recent years, the technology of artificially breeding puffer fish has continued to mature, and the price of wild puffer fish has gradually dropped to more than 1,000 yuan per catty.
Of course, this price drop refers to pufferfish from the sea, while pufferfish from the Yangtze River are still in short supply.
"Do you want to cook some puffer fish to celebrate?" Xiang Yang asked.
"Don't do that. This thing might actually kill people." Uncle Xiang immediately shook his head.
"Okay!" Xiang Yang could only nod his head regretfully. In fact, Xiang Yang had never tasted pufferfish in his life, but he had always heard people say how delicious pufferfish tasted, so he wanted to eat it even at the risk of his life. Xiang Yang wanted to try it after hearing about it for a long time, but seeing that even people like Xiang's uncle who had been drifting on the sea for many years didn't know how to deal with the toxins of pufferfish, Xiang Yang could only give up.
"Opportunities like this won't come often in the future. Do you want to cast another net?" asked Uncle Xiang.
Xiang Yang hesitated for a moment, but finally shook his head and said, "Forget it. The first net is a gift from the ocean to us, and the second net is our utter destruction of the ocean."
"Okay!" Uncle Xiang could only shake his head regretfully. According to his experience, there must be a lot of pufferfish under the sea. If they can be caught, they will definitely make more money. But Xiang Yang was right. If everyone kills the high-quality seafood as soon as they see it, the entire ocean will become barren in the future.
The fishing boat was still moving at a constant speed. Xiang Yang saw that the first net of fish had been almost cleaned up, so he shouted, "Speed up and keep moving. We'll drag another net of fish up in an hour, then dive to the bottom of the sea to take a look and then return. I'll give everyone a day off after we return."
"Diving into the sea?"
"Diving into the sea?"
The crew members on the ship suddenly had two completely different reactions. Several old sailors, including Uncle Xiang, changed their expressions slightly. The new sailors recruited from Qinglongwan were all excited and looked forward to seeing what the scenery on the bottom of the distant sea was like.
Xiang Yang also noticed that the two old sailors on the boat had changed their expressions, and couldn't help but wonder, "Why, is there something wrong with what I said?"
The two old sailors looked at each other, hesitant to speak, but finally shook their heads, "Captain, we are fine."
Uncle Xiang pulled Xiang Yang's arm and said, "Xiang Yang, let's talk for a moment."