"Student Xiang Yang." A professor looked at Xiang Yang, "Please tell me where the straight-shelled nautilus is."
Xiang Yang frowned! Although the biology expert used polite words, his tone was unquestionable, which made Xiang Yang feel a little uncomfortable.
Although Xiang Yang had already made up his mind that the straight-shelled Nautilus would be handed over to this research team, this tone still made Xiang Yang a little angry.
"Old Qian, what are you doing?" Professor Chen Yu was very sensitive to the change in Xiang Yang's facial expression. Before Xiang Yang could say anything, Professor Chen Yu spoke.
"Dean Chen." The professor named Lao Qian had not noticed Xiang Yang's change yet. He wondered, "What's wrong with me?"
"Are you a robber?" Professor Chen Yu scolded unceremoniously.
Professor Qian's face suddenly turned the color of pig liver, and he quickly said, "I'm sorry, Dean Chen, I forgot he was your student."
"Bullshit." Professor Chen Yu said bluntly, "So what if he is my student? So what if he is not my student? If he is not my student, how can you let someone take you to fish for that straight-shelled nautilus without even discussing the distribution of benefits?"
Professor Chen Yu is not only a serious scholar, he is also the dean of the School of Marine Biology at Ocean University. In his life, he is not greedy for money, lustful, or forming cliques.
He did this not only to favor Xiang Yang, but also to protect his own reputation.
In the past few years, too many so-called experts and professors, under the banner of scientific research, have embezzled too many treasures from the people, and have already ruined the reputation of many experts and professors.
Professor Chen Yu cared a lot about his reputation. When he saw Xiang Yang frowning, he immediately thought of the fact that some experts and scholars in the past had embezzled folk treasures.
When Professor Qian saw Xiang Yang getting angry, he immediately lowered his head and stopped talking.
Professor Chen Yu snorted coldly, "Scientific research is not robbery. If you take someone's money, you have to give them something in return. The annual research funding is paid by taxpayers. We can't be robbers in front of taxpayers. We must pay not a penny less in compensation."
Professor Qian nodded quickly.
Professor Chen Yu then looked at Xiang Yang and said with a smile: "Student Xiang Yang, are you sure how long that conch is?"
Xiang Yang nodded quickly. He was very sure of this.
Xiang Yang knew that Professor Chen Yu wanted to determine whether the conch was a straight-shelled nautilus.
In fact, Xiang Yang had already determined whether the conch was a straight-shelled nautilus.
Since discovering the straight-shelled Nautilus, Xiang Yang has specially looked up a lot of information related to the straight-shelled Nautilus.
In its heyday, the strongest competitor the straight-shelled nautilus encountered was the horseshoe crab.
The straight-shelled nautilus and the horseshoe crab had a competition of elimination and evolution in the middle Cambrian period.
But until the end of the Cambrian period, neither the straight-shelled nautilus nor the horseshoe crab had completely defeated each other.
In the struggle between the straight-shelled nautilus and the eurypterid horseshoe crab, the straight-shelled nautilus always had the upper hand, which lasted until the end of the Ordovician period.
After experiencing the mass extinction event at the end of the Ordovician period, the straight-shelled Nautilus was severely damaged and eventually lost to the Eurypedeus, but it still maintained a very high status in the ocean.
In the Devonian period, due to the appearance of Dunkleosteus, the horseshoe crabs in the sea were forced to move to land. The straight-shelled Nautilus could not go ashore and was oppressed by Dunkleosteus, completely losing its dominant position. Finally, the appearance of Helicoprion in the Permian period made the straight-shelled Nautilus family dying. In the Triassic period, ichthyosaurs ruled the ocean and the straight-shelled Nautilus became completely extinct.
The Nautilus has fought and struggled, experienced glory and desolation, until today, after hundreds of millions of years of changes. It has outlasted the Eurypede horseshoe crab and most of the prehistoric creatures, and has become a living fossil on this planet.
"Student Xiang Yang, can you take the teacher to see the conch?" Professor Chen Yu asked.
Just as Xiang Yang was about to agree, Professor Chen Yu spoke again, "We won't let you work in vain. You just need to lead us to find the conch. Whether it is a straight-shelled nautilus or not, we will pay you one thousand yuan. If it is confirmed that the shell is really a straight-shelled nautilus, I can decide to reward you at least two hundred thousand yuan. And under the premise of not violating the principles, as long as it is within my ability, you can make any request, and as long as I can fully fulfill it, I will agree to it."
"No, I don't want money." Xiang Yang said quickly: "Teacher, you are doing scientific experiments. If you can really find something, it will be a good thing for the country and the people. I think it's not good to talk about money for the country and the people. Anything that involves the interests of the motherland cannot be traded."
Professor Chen Yu patted Xiang Yang on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Your awareness is very high. I am very pleased, teacher."
"But teacher, I'm not making a deal with you. The money I give you is a recognition of your actions and a reward."
Xiang Yang looked at Chen Yu.
Chen Yu looked at the ocean, sighed slightly, and said, "You may not know what the straight-shelled nautilus is."
"Or you don't know its value yet."
"When it comes to nautiluses, everyone probably thinks of those ancient creatures that float in the water today. Although they belong to the same group as cephalopods such as squids and octopuses, they seem extremely lazy. However, when nautiluses first appeared on the evolutionary tree, they actually had some very tough counterparts, and the most famous of them was the straight-shelled nautilus that once dominated the ocean."
"This creature, which today may remind people of the legendary sea monster, once dominated the Ordovician period and can be regarded as a hero among nautiluses. But how did this huge creature disappear?"
"These are all secrets. There are many different opinions on the so-called truth, and no one can give an accurate answer."
"Currently, the fossils of the straight-shelled nautilus have been mainly unearthed along the coast of the Baltic Sea. Also unearthed together with them are a large number of small populations that belong to the same straight-shelled nautilus but are completely different species. However, it is almost certain that these straight-shelled nautilus, which vary greatly in size, are all very fierce predators, especially the large nautilus, whose diet includes almost all marine animals including other types of straight-shelled nautilus. However, due to the heavy shell of the straight-shelled nautilus, they cannot actively chase their prey, but hunt through ambush strategies similar to octopuses. When the prey approaches, the straight-shelled nautilus will use its tentacles to grab the prey. Although there are other predators in the Ordovician ocean besides the straight-shelled nautilus, the straight-shelled nautilus, with its huge size, makes it very rare for other types of hunters to threaten them."