"We encountered a shark, more than four meters long." Xiang Yang had no intention of hiding it from the crew. He told them the story of how he had discovered the basking shark, but he did not tell them the distance.
The crew members were all shocked. Sharks have always been synonymous with ferocity in the minds of humans, and the great white shark was once considered the most ferocious creature on the planet.
A shark over four meters long.
Oh my God, won’t they eat people
The crew members broke into cold sweats for Xiang Yang just by hearing this.
Xiang Yang smiled and said, "It's okay, it's a basking shark, it doesn't attack people, I even swam over and touched it, but it was very timid, and swam away when it saw me approaching."
Many crew members felt that they were listening to a fairy tale, saying that there are sharks in the world that don't attack people.
Especially after hearing Xiang Yang say that he took the initiative to approach the shark and scared it away, many crew members looked at Xiang Yang strangely.
Several crew members from Yanlong Village who grew up with Xiang Yang looked at each other, as if they wanted to refute but didn't dare to. It was a very vivid picture.
Chen Qingsheng and others who knew about the basking shark were relieved. "We actually encountered a shark, but luckily it was a basking shark, otherwise we might be in real trouble."
"Why? Why is it so lucky that it is a basking shark, otherwise we would be in trouble? Could it be that the old shark is too old and its teeth can't bite anymore?" Fang Youqun asked stupidly.
"It's the grandmother's grandmother." Chen Qingsheng said unhappily, "The basking shark is a very timid shark. It only has a few teeth in its mouth, and each tooth is no longer than one centimeter. It will not actively hunt prey."
"There are actually such sharks?" Fang Youqun bared his teeth. He found it hard to imagine how he would survive if he only had a few teeth.
"Basking sharks don't actively hunt for prey, so what do they eat to grow?" Fang Youqun continued to ask.
"They open their mouths and wait for prey to come closer to them." Xiang Yang explained with a smile: "Basking sharks have olfactory bulbs in their bodies, which emit a scent to attract prey to swim towards their mouths."
Fang Youqun was amazed and said, "There is actually such a method. Those prey are really stupid."
At this time, Chen Qingsheng asked Xiang Yang: "Captain, which direction did the basking shark swim in? Should we chase it?"
"What are you going to do by catching up?" Xiang Yang asked back.
"Of course, we have to catch that basking shark." Chen Qingsheng said as a matter of course, "If it is any other shark, we may not be able to catch it underwater, and we may even be chased and bitten by the shark. But for a basking shark, there is no such concern. I can fight it by myself with a steel fork. If there are two people helping me, I can definitely catch the basking shark."
Because basking sharks swim very slowly and are not aggressive, some sailors were once proud to hand-draw basking sharks.
The British Museum also houses a very valuable hand-painted picture of a basking shark.
According to historical records, Magellan sailed for more than 100 days before reaching the Pacific Ocean. As he had never encountered strong winds or waves along the way, Magellan felt more relaxed than ever before, as if God had helped him a lot. He gave that stretch of sea an auspicious name, "Pacific Ocean".
In the vast Pacific Ocean, there was no land and no islands to be seen, so food became the most critical problem. For more than 100 days and nights, Magellan had no fresh food and only had breadcrumbs to fill his stomach. Later, even the breadcrumbs were finished and he could only eat some wormy breadcrumb crumbs, which smelled like rat urine.
The fresh water in the cabin became less and less, and finally one could only drink foul-smelling turbid yellow water.
In order to survive, Magellan and his companions even took the cowhide covering the beams of the ship as food. Due to exposure to the sun, wind and rain, the cowhide became as hard as stone and had to be soaked in sea water for four or five days and then roasted on charcoal fire for a long time before it could be eaten.
Sometimes, they also eat sawdust powder from wood.
In this situation of extreme food scarcity, Magellan's round-the-world fleet encountered a giant shark.
At that time, a very daring and hungry Spanish sailor rushed into the sea with a three-pronged harpoon in his hand.
At that time, the crew members traveling around the world thought that the Spanish sailor was dead for daring to provoke a "sea monster" as big as a mountain.
As a result, the Spanish sailor seemed to be possessed by the god of the sea. He killed the huge sea monster with just a steel fork.
The crew of the around-the-world trip commemorated the brave sailor with a picture of his hand-drawn basking shark.
It was thanks to the support of the basking shark that Magellan and his crew were able to hold out until March 1521, when the fleet arrived at three inhabited islands. The enthusiastic islanders sent Magellan and his crew food, fruits and vegetables, allowing the round-the-world journey to continue.
Magellan's first voyage across the Pacific Ocean revolutionized geography and navigation.
The round-the-world journey proved that most of the earth's surface is not land, but ocean, and that the oceans around the world are not isolated from each other, but a unified and complete body of water, which played a pioneering role in the subsequent navigation industry.
Xiang Yang looked at Chen Qingsheng with some amusement. If Chen Qingsheng were to go down into the sea with a steel fork, he might really be able to kill the basking shark that had just reached adulthood.
However, if Xiang Yang really wanted to do this, he would have done it himself long ago. Why would he wait until Chen Qingsheng came to challenge him
"The number of basking sharks is far less than before, and they are now listed as a protected species," said Xiang Yang.
Chen Qingsheng was stunned. "Is the basking shark also a protected species?"
"Yes." Xiang Yang nodded very affirmatively.
Chen Qingsheng immediately revealed an annoyed expression. He didn't dare to kill protected animals, but he felt really distressed that he couldn't catch a basking shark after so much difficulty.
When Fang Youqun saw it, he asked curiously, "Isn't it just a shark? Brother Qing, why do you have that expression?"
"Isn't it just a shark? That's so easy to say." Chen Qingsheng said depressedly: "You know nothing."
"You are underestimating me, aren't you?" Fang Youqun chuckled. "I have also been deliberately trying to learn more about marine life and read some books. Shark meat is not worth much, right? Many fishermen cut off the shark's fins after catching them, and then they think the shark's body takes up too much space on the boat, so they throw the shark with the fins cut off back into the water."
"It's just a shark fin. We can get a bigger catch by just casting a random net. It's not worth risking our lives." Fang Youqun said reasonably.
Chen Qingsheng glanced at him and said, "Don't show off your half-baked knowledge. The fin of the basking shark is different from that of other sharks."