The elephant clam is also called the geoduck, which is a creature whose remains after death look very similar to those of a pearl oyster.
Its biological name is Pacific mud clam, also known as emperor clam and goddess clam.
Geoduck is its commercial name.
Geoduck is the largest known bivalve in the world. Its shell is about 18-23 cm long, and its water tube can extend to 1.3 meters. The water tube cannot be retracted into the shell. The weight of a geoduck including the shell can reach 3.6 kg. It is a large shellfish of the genus Clam.
Xiang Yang stared with glowing eyes at a small boat that was less than five meters long.
To be precise, he was staring into the live water tank of the ship.
In the live water tank of the small boat, there were several geoducks lying.
The largest one among them had a shell as big as a cattail leaf fan, and Xiang Yang estimated that its weight was at least two kilograms.
The water pipe of the geoduck looks like a fat intestine and also like an elephant's trunk, which is how the geoduck got its name.
This is an extremely valuable seafood.
my country began to introduce geoducks in 1998. Currently, there are large-scale breeding bases along the southeastern coast. The price of farmed geoducks is shockingly high.
If you randomly find a small and exquisite seafood restaurant in Sanya and order a geoduck at about half price, the price will be at least 800 yuan.
Of course, its breeding costs require this price.
Farmed geoducks feed on single-celled algae in seawater.
Wild geoducks also filter feed on sediment and organic debris.
The biggest difficulty in raising geoducks is that they have so many natural enemies. Almost all carnivores in the entire ocean are their natural enemies. Their main enemies are crabs, starfish, sea snails, flounder and other fish.
Although the shell of the geoduck is as big as a palm leaf fan, it is actually a complete burden. It is thin and brittle and will break at the slightest touch. It has almost no ability to protect itself in the ocean.
Generally, if aquaculture companies release one million geoduck seedlings, they would be lucky if 100,000 of them come back. The remaining 900,000 will either be eaten by crabs or fish.
Moreover, geoducks grow very slowly, and the returns are also very slow.
The shell of a one-year-old geoduck is 5-6 cm long and weighs 36-40 grams.
The shell of a two-year-old geoduck is 8-10 cm long and weighs 200-250 grams. Most seafood stores sell geoducks of this size. Ordinary people simply cannot afford to try larger ones.
The shell of a three-year-old geoduck is only 10-12 centimeters long and weighs about one kilogram.
It takes four years for the shell of a geoduck to grow to more than 13 centimeters and weigh about one and a half kilograms. More than 90% of the geoducks farmed here are concentrated in big hotels and are not available for sale in the vegetable market.
And as they age, the shells of geoducks grow more slowly.
However, the geoduck's soft body can still continue to grow. It is difficult to estimate how large it can grow to because its lifespan can reach more than 100 years. If you have to wait until it grows to its maximum size before selling it, it may drive away the clam farmers.
Xiang Yang looked at these geoducks carefully and was surprised to find that the water pipes of these geoducks were all grayish white.
Geoducks can generally be divided into two types: mud clams and sand clams. The necks of geoducks that grow in sand are whiter, while the necks of geoducks that grow in mud are darker.
Sand clams without impurities and odors are considered the best among geoducks.
The main edible part of the sand clam is the water tube, which is the pull.
Cut the basil into small square pieces. After simple cooking, the meat will be flawless white, tender and refreshing with an extremely fresh taste.
Wild geoducks are extremely expensive, on the same level as abalone, shark fins and sea cucumbers.
"Are these geoducks raised by you?" Xiang Yang shouted towards the bottom of the boat.
"Nonsense, if we don't raise it, then does it belong to you?" A young man with a flat head said unhappily.
"Xiaofeng, shut up." An elderly, skinny fisherman nearby immediately yelled at the young man.
Then, he looked at Xiang Yang and said with a smile: "This is contracted by our village. Boss, if you also want to come down to salvage it, I'm afraid it won't work."
Xiang Yang found out after talking with the old fisherman.
It turned out that they were all fishermen from a nearby fishing village. They used iron nails to pull nets with the island as the center and raised a lot of geoducks near the island. These geoducks were the common property of all the villagers. After catching them and selling them, they could only get one-tenth of the money as labor remuneration, and the rest had to be handed over to the village committee for redistribution. Even so, many people came here every night to fish for geoducks without getting tired of it.
Because even if they can only get one-tenth of the pay, they can still earn several hundred yuan per night on average.
As for why they didn't wear diving suits to salvage, it turned out that it was not because they were reluctant to buy diving suits, nor was it because they couldn't afford them.
This is the rule in their village. Anyone from their village can come and fish for the geoducks here at will, but the amount fished each time cannot be too large and must be done slowly and over a long period of time.
At first, their village chief didn't say that they couldn't come down wearing a diving suit.
But there were always some people who were not conscious and caught a lot of geoducks every night, and some even caught geoduck seedlings, which made other people in the village very unhappy. So later, they came up with this idea: except when the whole village went out together and there was a big harvest, no one was allowed to wear a diving suit and go into the water in this sea area at other times.
As for why no order was given, it would be better to simply ban everyone from entering the water in this area, and just cut it off across the board.
That’s because geoducks are extremely precious. If no one is posted to guard nearby, they will definitely be targeted by thieves every day.
And finding a security guard on this lonely deserted island in the sea is not cheap.
Moreover, it is impossible for one security guard to guard such a large sea area, so in the end, the villagers unanimously agreed to this way of management.
After Xiang Yang learned the truth, he immediately lost interest in this place.
Nonsense, this is the place contracted by someone else, and there are so many people here. Xiang Yang can neither go down to salvage nor steal. What else can he do if he doesn't leave
As a result, the skinny old fisherman stopped Xiang Yang and said, "Boss, these geoducks are all raised naturally. Would you like to take some away?"
Xiang Yang was stunned when he heard this, and then he immediately lost his favor for the fisherman. Xiang Yang said coldly: "You mean, you want to sell these geoducks to me? This is your collective property. There are so many people around. You sell it to me privately. Aren't you afraid of being seen?"
These geoducks are of excellent quality, and Xiang Yang certainly wants them.
But even if Xiang Yang wanted to trade, he would go to this person's village instead of this person.