"Could it be a swordfish?"
Xiang Yang looked at the rapidly spinning reel on the fishing rod and wondered whether he had caught a swordfish.
Swordfish is known as the fastest fish in the ocean and has great power.
In The Old Man and the Sea, a swordfish can even swim quickly while towing a fishing boat.
Li Chao also saw the rapidly spinning reel on Xiang Yang's fishing rod. His face changed and he shouted, "Give me the fishing rod."
Xiang Yang shook his head and indicated that it was not necessary.
Xiang Yang’s fishing skills can’t be said to be very good, but over the years, practice makes perfect and his skills are not bad.
If it is really impossible, Xiang Yang will throw the fishing rod away before the reel finishes rolling.
Li Chao's fishing skills may be slightly better than Xiang Yang's because he has practiced it specially.
But if he was really dragged into the sea by that unknown sea fish, Xiang Yang could swim back by himself, and Li Chao would have to rely on Xiang Yang to save him.
Xiang Yang held the fishing rod tightly in one hand and kept letting out the line with the other hand. This process is commonly known as "slipping the fish".
When the size of the fish reaches a certain level, you cannot pull it hard after it bites the hook.
If the person is stronger than the fish, at most the fish will break free and the person's effort will be wasted.
But if the fish is stronger than the human, the biggest possibility of pulling the fishing line hard is that the human will be pulled into the water by the fish.
"Reel in the line, Brother Yang, you're almost out of line." Fang Youqun shouted anxiously, "Pull harder, or it will run away if you let go any more."
Xiang Yang turned a deaf ear to Fang Youqun's words. He pulled hard at the moment when the fish was just hooked and had the greatest strength. Perhaps only Fang Youqun could do this.
Xiang Yang kept letting out the line and shaking the fishing rod, leading the big fish to circle around the cruise ship. More than half an hour passed and Xiang Yang was almost exhausted when the big fish finally surfaced.
"This is a manta ray." Chen Qingsheng exclaimed while holding up a telescope.
Xiang Yang was also shocked, looking at the strange fish that looked like a big bat, with a black back, white belly, and a long tail behind it. It was clearly a manta ray.
But this manta ray was not as big as Xiang Yang had imagined.
Looking at the speed at which the reel was turning and the huge pulling force of the fishing rod, Xiang Yang himself thought that he had at least caught a big fish weighing several hundred kilograms.
This manta ray is only the size of a millstone and weighs only a few dozen kilograms at most.
However, Xiang Yang did not dare to underestimate this manta ray weighing only a few dozen kilograms.
The devil ray, also known as the manta ray, is an animal of the genus Manta in the family Mantaidae. It is listed on the "Red List of Endangered Species of the World Conservation Union" and is a very dangerous marine creature.
Manta rays usually live on the bottom of the sea, but sometimes they rise to the surface of the sea to cruise and make long-distance migrations.
Although the manta ray looks like a big bat, it is very agile and its prey basically has nowhere to escape.
Although the manta ray feeds on floating crustaceans and small fish, that is only because its mouth is small, not because it cannot defeat larger marine creatures.
If a fight really breaks out, a shark of the same size may not be a match for a manta ray.
Although the manta ray caught by Xiang Yang is only as big as a millstone and looks like a bat, and now it seems very weak and helpless floating on the sea, in fact, it only needs to flap its body lightly to smash an adult man into pieces.
"Yes, it is indeed a manta ray, but a small one. It is the largest manta ray I have ever seen. Its width when its fins are spread out is more than eight meters, and its weight reaches more than three thousand kilograms." Li Chao said solemnly.
Xiang Yang had a headache.
The manta ray is a creature on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, so it certainly cannot be caught. But now there is a fishhook hanging in its mouth, and if the hook is not removed, it will definitely not survive even if it is released.
"What kind of fish is a manta ray? But this fish looks really strange, with two fleshy horns on its head. It does look a bit like the legendary devil. Pull it up, Brother Yang, why don't you pull it up? The fish has no strength now. You can pull it up with a little effort." Fang Youqun shouted loudly.
Xiang Yang glanced at Fang Youqun.
In fact, what grows on the manta ray's head are not fleshy horns, but fleshy feet. Those two fleshy feet that look like devil horns are the manta ray's head fins.
Because the manta ray's head fin flips up and protrudes forward, it is mistakenly called the "devil fish" in English, mainly because of its scary shape.
"What are you going to do?" Li Chao asked Xiang Yang.
Xiang Yang frowned. He had to pull it up, no matter whether he was taking it back or releasing it. Xiang Yang had to pull the manta ray onto the deck and remove the hook from its mouth.
But manta rays are obviously not that easy to pull.
When manta rays swim, they flap their triangular pectoral fins and drag their hard, slender tail as if they are flying in the water.
In fact, manta rays can actually fly.
The largest adult manta ray can reach 7 meters in length, more than 9 meters in width, and weigh more than 5,000 kilograms.
Don’t think the manta ray is bulky because of its bloated body. In fact, it can perform extremely difficult spinning jumps.
As the rotation speed increases, the manta ray is able to quickly rise above the sea floor and jump out of the water.
Manta rays can sometimes jump more than two meters out of the water.
During the manta ray's breeding season, they can sometimes slap the water with their fins, leap up and somersault in the air.
Don’t be fooled by the fact that this manta ray looks exhausted now. It lies motionless on the sea surface, as if it is ready to be slaughtered.
In fact, it only needs to recover a little bit of its strength to be able to hit the water surface in an instant and jump from the water to the boat.
If He Mingde were hit by the manta ray's fin, even if his muscles were as hard as iron, he would suffer broken bones immediately.
"This is not a small manta ray, it is an adult spineless manta ray, and it is also the smallest of all manta ray. But although they are small in size, they are not weak at all. Don't look at it as it only weighs a few dozen kilograms, but it can drag a boat weighing thousands of kilograms and swim in the sea. It is a very ferocious marine creature." Xiang Yang said in a deep voice.
Although manta rays are named devil and are very powerful, they are gentle in nature and almost never hurt people.
But that is based on the premise that people do not actively provoke it.
This manta ray was caught with a fish hook and swam in the sea for more than half an hour. No one can tell whether it will hurt anyone.
After all, even a rabbit bites when it is angry.
Manta rays are not rabbits. Although they are not aggressive, they are powerful enough to destroy small boats when disturbed. In history, there have been many manta rays that destroyed small boats due to being frightened for various reasons.