Compared to other marine creatures, sea turtles have extremely strong vitality. Their only natural enemies are plastic bags and barnacles. They can survive for a long time even without food or water.
Xiang Yang thought for a while and said, "Okay, let's leave it on the boat and see when the wrasse is willing to work again."
Fang Youqun nodded quickly and put the big turtle into a large wooden barrel. He stared into the barrel without blinking, like a child who had found his favorite toy.
"Be careful, don't get bitten by the turtle again." Xiang Yang said with a smile.
"Don't worry." Fang Youqun laughed, "I'm sure no one can bite me."
Xiang Yang smiled and said, "It's up to you then."
"Brother Xiang." Zhang Qicheng rubbed his hands and said a little embarrassedly: "Can I discuss something with you?"
"Of course." Xiang Yang nodded, "Mr. Zhang, just tell me what you want to say."
Zhang Qicheng blinked and said, "Then I'll tell you."
"Go ahead." Xiang Yang nodded.
"Well, we are not far from the shore now. Brother Xiang, can you turn around and go back?" Zhang Qicheng asked.
"Uh, go back?"
Xiang Yang smiled bitterly and said, "Boss Zhang, aren't you making things difficult for me?"
It is not easy for an ocean-going fishing vessel to go out to sea.
Not to mention how much fuel is consumed for a round trip.
Many supplies have a shelf life, and there are also the crew's wages, the time spent... When these things are added together, it is not a big deal, and Xiang Yang would not go back halfway and come out again.
Zhang Qicheng knew from Xiang Yang's tone that this matter was non-negotiable. He did not embarrass Xiang Yang any more. He sighed and said, "Okay, then you must take good care of my batch of wrasses. Not a single one can die. I'm counting on you, brother."
Xiang Yang nodded, "Don't worry about this, Brother Zhang, but it's probably not realistic to not kill any of them."
"Anyway, I'll leave it to you. Just do your best." Zhang Qicheng said.
"That's easy. Don't worry, I will definitely take good care of you." Xiang Yang said.
At this time, Chen Qingsheng came over and asked, "Captain, the net we just cast doesn't count. Do we still need to cast the net now?"
Xiang Yang nodded, "Let's go ahead. Let's not talk about the catch for now. We don't even have dinner yet. Let's cast another net and have seafood tonight."
"Okay!" Chen Qingsheng agreed and quickly arranged for people to cast the net.
It took a full two hours to finally pull in the net.
After coming online, the huge fishing net bulged slightly, and it was obvious that a lot of fish had been caught.
Zhang Qicheng lit up a cigarette and took a few puffs. After satisfying his craving, he flicked away the half-smoked cigarette and looked at Xiang Yang and said, "Oh, not bad. This net must have at least several thousand kilograms of catch, right?"
Xiang Yang nodded, then shook his head. "Several tons of fish can be caught in one net. It's barely ok for a drift net fishing boat, but the harvest is too little for an ocean-going fishing boat. Two consecutive nets didn't catch much, proving that this sea area is relatively barren. Next, we have to speed up our voyage. I want to go to more distant waters to find fishing grounds with richer fishery resources."
If the several thousand kilograms of catch were all worthless sea fish like bull tongue, this net would not even be enough to cover Xiang Yang's fuel expenses for this trip. If other expenses were counted, it would be a pure loss. Xiang Yang naturally did not want to waste time in such a sea area again.
"Let's take a look at what kind of fish they are first. Maybe all you catch with this net are bluefin tuna." Zhang Qicheng said with a smile.
Xiang Yang rolled his eyes.
It is more realistic to expect to win all the lottery tickets than to expect to catch only bluefin tuna with one net.
"Hurry up and clean up the catch, first clean out the valuable and rare catches, and put all the cheap sea fish in foam boxes, cover them with ice, and then put them in the freezer."
"Yes, Captain." Chen Qingsheng shouted loudly.
Xiang Yang nodded and walked towards the stern. He was mainly worried that the crew members did not recognize some of the rare catches. If they mistakenly treated the rare catches as ordinary catches due to lack of knowledge, Xiang Yang would be in tears.
The fishing nets were untied.
Fang Youqun and a dozen people used harpoons and steel rakes to dig up all the piled up catches. First, they wanted to make sure if there were any dangerous fish mixed in. Some marine fish creatures were extremely dangerous even after they were out of the water.
For example, the spider crab that Xiang Yang caught last time was nicknamed the killer crab, and it was extremely dangerous even when it came ashore.
Fang Youqun held a four-toothed rake in both hands and cleared away the piled-up catch bit by bit.
Halfway through the process, he suddenly screamed, "Fuck!" and jumped back holding the rake.
Chen Qingsheng immediately got angry and shouted, "Fang Youqun, what are you yelling about? Did you see a ghost?"
"No." Fang Youqun quickly explained: "Brother Yang, Brother Sheng, come and look, there are jellyfish under the catch, lots of jellyfish."
Jellyfish
Xiang Yang was shocked. Those were very dangerous marine creatures. Almost all jellyfish species were highly poisonous, and some could even easily kill an elephant.
"Move aside, let me take a look." Xiang Yang took the rake from Fang Youqun's hand and continued to turn over the catch.
Xiang Yang pulled aside the layer of sea fish at the top of the catch pile and finally saw the group of creatures that Fang Youqun called jellyfish.
This group of creatures really do look a lot like jellyfish. Most of their heads are melon-shaped, pear-shaped, or spherical, but some are flat.
"Hey, Captain, this doesn't look like a jellyfish, right?" Chen Qingsheng said.
Xiang Yang nodded. "This is called sea walnut, also known as cat's eye jellyfish. Whether in appearance or name, sea walnut is very similar to a jellyfish. In fact, sea walnut and jellyfish are two completely different creatures. The only connection between them and jellyfish is that they are both marine creatures."
Sea walnuts are very magical marine creatures. The shortest of them is not even as tall as a matchstick, and the tallest is no taller than a human arm. They are very small marine animals and plants.
The reason why sea walnuts are called marine plants and animals rather than marine animals is that sea walnuts have no brain, no heart, no eyes, no ears, and no blood or bones in their bodies. They are just like a plastic bag that has been washed open by water.
In the early days, even scientists couldn't figure out whether sea walnuts were animals or plants. Biologists were divided into three camps on whether sea walnuts were animals or plants.
One group firmly believes that sea walnuts are animals.
One group boldly assumes that the sea walnut is a plant.
The third group, represented by the Swedish naturalist Linnaeus, believes that the sea walnut is a plant animal, or a phytomorphic animal.