Barnacles are arthropods with calcareous shells that are commonly found on coastal reefs.
Barnacles are extremely resilient and often form dense colonies on rocks, docks, ships and even some large marine organisms.
This is a very annoying creature. Barnacles attached to coastal docks will make the docks more prone to aging. Barnacles on submarine cables will even damage the cables and cause great harm. Barnacles fixed to the hull will greatly reduce the ship's sailing speed.
Barnacles that parasitize on whales often cause great pain to them. Even whales with very thick skin like humpback whales often beat the water frantically because of the itch, and even run aground on reefs and try to remove the barnacles.
Some people find it incredible that whales are the overlords of the ocean and almost the largest animals on earth. These behemoths travel thousands of kilometers through the ocean every year. How could they be associated with ugly and tiny barnacles
In fact, a large number of barnacles attached to the surface of whales will make the whales suffer like psoriasis and sores, and many whales die because of barnacles.
Barnacles are one of the most vulnerable creatures in the ocean. In order to survive, barnacles will "tie" themselves to the surface of the whale after coming into contact with the whale's skin. They will secrete a highly sticky substance that is stronger than glue to stick themselves firmly to the whale. They will also implant their lower body into the whale's skin, and finally successfully parasitize the whale.
The barnacles on the whale's body are like shocking scars.
"Be a ninja." Xiang Yang took off his gloves and put them in the net bag, trying to pry off a barnacle growing on the corner of the male whale's eye.
The male whale seemed to know what Xiang Yang was going to do next. It was so excited that it kept slapping the sea surface with its powerful tail, creating layers of waves.
There are many barnacles growing from the corners of the male whale's eyes to the exhaust hole on the back.
These barnacles were very firmly attached to the male whale. They had experienced countless storms and waves with the humpback whale without ever sinking to the bottom of the sea. When Xiang Yang tried to break one off, he had to use a lot of strength.
A small pit-like hole is left on the humpback whale's body where a barnacle was broken off, just like a blackhead squeezed out of a human's skin.
Looking at the small pit-like hole, Xiang Yang felt a little distressed and immediately broke off the second one.
The barnacles were very firmly attached to the humpback whale, and it would definitely be painful to break them off so forcibly, but the male whale seemed to feel no pain at all, and its body lay still on the sea surface like a small mountain, motionless.
On the contrary, the female whale slapped the water surface, swam to Xiang Yang from time to time to take a look, and sometimes even used its fins to scratch Xiang Yang's shoulders, as if asking Xiang Yang to help clean the barnacles first.
The crew members on the ship were all watching with great interest.
Although barnacles are very disgusting creatures, they are also the dream of countless people. Barnacles contain all kinds of trace elements and are the best natural supplements, which make many people fall in love with them and go crazy for them.
Barnacles are not only nutritious but also very delicious. If you only look at their appearance, it is hard to imagine the mentality of the first person who ate barnacles. However, all diners who have eaten barnacles are conquered by their deliciousness. The texture of barnacle meat is so tender that it does not feel like shellfish at all. It melts in your mouth like tofu.
For example, the best gooseneck barnacles can cost as much as eight or nine thousand yuan per pound.
Of course, the barnacles growing on the humpback whale are not the top-grade gooseneck barnacles, but just the most common cylindrical barnacles.
It is also very difficult to collect cylindrical barnacles. Fishermen are generally unwilling to collect them, so they are rarely sold on the market. On the contrary, cylindrical barnacles are very popular online, and the prices range from one or two hundred yuan per catty to one or two thousand yuan per catty. There are many people buying them in each price range.
Growing on humpback whales and having experienced strong winds and waves with the humpback whales, the nutrient-rich barnacles are naturally the best among cylindrical barnacles, and each pound is worth thousands of dollars.
Xiang Yang spent twenty minutes cleaning the barnacles from the corners of the male humpback whale's eyes.
The barnacles collected from the corners of the eyes of this male whale alone filled one-fifth of a net bag, weighing at least three or four kilograms.
There are even more barnacles parasitizing on the back and abdominal wrinkles of male humpback whales, which are densely packed and weigh at least hundreds of pounds. Especially around the exhaust vent, the barnacles are connected to each other like large scars on the humpback whale's body, which can scare people with trypophobia and make them unable to sleep at night.
After Xiang Yang collected all the barnacles from the corners of the male humpback whale's eyes, the male whale closed his eyes. It seemed that he could no longer feel those damn little things. He was very excited and kept touching Xiang Yang with his head.
Xiang Yang also smiled and touched the male whale's big head with his hand, and said with a smile: "There are too many barnacles on your body. I can't clean them all by myself. Can I call my crew to help you clean them?"
After saying that, Xiang Yang shouted to the deck without waiting for the humpback whales to agree: "Is there anyone willing to come down and help me clean the barnacles off these two humpback whales?"
Some of the crew members on the ship had been eager to go to the sea for a long time. When they heard this, they immediately shouted, "I, I, I, Captain, I'm coming!" However, the other crew members laughed awkwardly and said nothing for various reasons.
In the end, only eight people, including He Mingde, chose to go into the sea.
Xiang Yang waved his hand and promised those who went down to the sea to collect barnacles from humpback whales that they would each receive a red envelope of 2,000 yuan when they returned. This made those who went down to the sea smile with joy and their enthusiasm soared. Even two of the crew members on the deck who were afraid to get off the boat were tempted and put on diving suits.
The two humpback whales cooperated very well with Xiang Yang and others. They floated on the sea motionlessly and even allowed the crew to climb onto their backs.
The crew members were a little hesitant at first, but after breaking off several barnacles in succession, they gradually became bolder and collected barnacles much faster.
The crew members on the boat were taking pictures of Xiang Yang and his group with their mobile phones, and someone even recorded a video of Xiang Yang and his group lying on the back of a whale collecting barnacles.
The barnacles on the back of the humpback whale are easy to collect. With everyone working together, all the barnacles in the folds of the humpback whale's back were cleaned out in less than two hours. Even some barnacle larvae were not spared to prevent them from regenerating on the whale's back in the future.
But the barnacles on the belly of a humpback whale are not so easy to collect.
The barnacles on the humpback whale's belly are very firmly attached to the whale's skin, and it is inconvenient for the whale to move underwater. Usually, the crew cannot break a barnacle off even if they crush it.
A group of people couldn't help but run around anxiously under the humpback whale.
The humpback whales have more barnacles on their bellies than on their backs, and regardless of how valuable these barnacles are, if we only remove the barnacles on their backs without cleaning the barnacles on their bellies, it would be a waste of time, and it won't be long before the two humpback whales are covered in barnacles again.