In addition to swimming crabs, tiger crabs, lobsters, octopuses and squids, Xiang Yang's catch also included a large number of saury.
There are also many rare catches, the most precious of which are two humphead wrasses kept in a large tank.
Humphead wrasse mainly lives in warm waters with higher water temperatures, so it is bound to migrate south when encountering cold currents.
The humphead wrasse likes to shuttle between coral reefs and rocky rocks. It is the most precious coral fish. The humphead wrasse is a saltwater fish, but after artificial breeding, there are now a large number of farmed freshwater humphead wrasse on the market.
Wild saltwater humphead wrasse gets its name from the brightly colored stripes on its body and the two black stripes above its eyes that resemble eyebrows.
Xiang Yang threw a few colorful, poisonous and inedible marine fish into the water tank containing the humphead wrasse as food. Highly toxic substances are natural tonics for the humphead wrasse. The toxins in the food will not only not poison the humphead wrasse, but will instead gather in the body of the humphead wrasse and become its magic weapon of protection.
"Brother Yang, what kind of fish are these?" Fang Youqun saw that Xiang Yang actually attached so much importance to the two strange fish that he was feeding the two strange fish before he even finished cleaning the catch, so he couldn't help but come forward and ask.
Xiang Yang smiled, "Humphead wrasse."
Fang Youqun nodded, not quite understanding, "Is this fish expensive? You fed it right after you caught it, Brother Yang?"
"I like it, so I fed it. Don't you think this fish is beautiful?"
The two humphead wrasses in the tank were extremely graceful even when hunting. They swam slowly to a colorful and poisonous marine fish, swallowed it with their mouths open, and then remained motionless in the tank. If you hadn't seen the hunting process, you would never have imagined that it had just hunted.
The humphead wrasse has a very beautiful appearance and a relatively docile temperament, so it can be used as an ornamental fish.
However, except for the truly wealthy or sufficiently high-end venues, it is impossible to raise grouper as an ornamental fish, because grouper has extremely high edible value and is in short supply. It is quite difficult to snatch a grouper from the hands of foodies. Most of the groupers on the ornamental fish market are artificially bred freshwater groupers, which are easier to raise and more docile than wild groupers, but lack the unique spirituality of wild groupers.
Precisely because of that spirituality, the clever wild humphead wrasse is very playful. Divers often encounter humphead wrasse on the seabed, and the humphead wrasse will chase and play with the divers, and the divers cannot push them away. Usually, as soon as the divers push the humphead wrasse away, the humphead wrasse will come over again, shaking its tail.
"They are indeed very beautiful. Brother Yang, do you want to keep them?" Fang Youqun said with his eyes lighting up.
"I can't afford to take care of these two guys. I'll see if I can find a suitable buyer for them when I get back." Xiang Yang said with a smile. In fact, wild humphead wrasse is still very ornamental. Although they are more difficult to raise than freshwater fish, they have an extremely long lifespan, so long that they can even witness the birth, aging, illness and death of a sea turtle. The long lifespan of humphead wrasse is enough to make up for the expensive cost of raising them in seawater.
"It's a pity to sell two adult humphead wrasse as edible fish." He Mingde also leaned over and said, "Xiaoyang, can you find a market for them as ornamental fish?"
"Let's give it a try." Xiang Yang shrugged. "If it can't be sold as an ornamental fish, I dare not sell it."
The small humphead wrasse grows slowly and has a very limited reproduction number. In addition, humans overfish and eat it as an economic fish. Currently, the humphead wrasse is no longer seen in many coral reef areas. Today, the humphead wrasse has been listed as an endangered species. Although it is not a national protected animal, it is also found in several provinces and cities.
Now no one dares to openly buy and sell wild humphead wrasse meat in the market. It is rumored on the black market that humphead wrasse meat has been sold for several thousand yuan per pound. Although it is not allowed to be eaten, it is allowed to be traded for ornamental purposes.
"If you have no market for it, I do have one, but I can't guarantee whether I can sell it." He Mingde said.
"Oh?" Xiang Yang looked at He Mingde.
"There is a fish trading market in Longcheng City. I will take you to see it after we go back this time." He Mingde said with a smile.
At this time, Chen Qingsheng came over and said, "Old He, the freshwater humphead wrasse traded in the fish market is only a few hundred yuan each. I don't think it's easy to trade wild humphead wrasse."
It is very simple to distinguish freshwater humphead wrasse from wild humphead wrasse. The stripes on wild humphead wrasse are as obvious as zebra stripes, and the colors are also bright. The pattern on their faces is even more unique, radiating from the eyes. The pattern on each humphead wrasse is different, just like a human fingerprint, it is simply the natural business card of wild humphead wrasse.
"Of course it's not easy to sell, otherwise I wouldn't have said I went to check it out." He Mingde said with a smile.
"There will always be someone who knows what's good." Xiang Yang didn't think that these two humphead wrasses would be unsellable. Having experience in selling French blue dragonfish, Xiang Yang seemed more confident than He Mingde and others.
He Mingde and Chen Qingsheng tactfully continued to clean up the catch and did not spoil Xiang Yang's fun.
"Friend Fang, I have a task for you." Xiang Yang said.
"Brother Yang, you say." Fang Youqun immediately said loudly.
"Take good care of these two humphead wrasse for me and feed them these colorful little fish on time every day." Xiang Yang said.
"Ah?" Fang Youqun's face fell. "I thought it was a big task, but it turns out it's just feeding fish?"
Xiang Yang did not explain and continued to stare at the remaining catch with a smile.
The catch of this net was enormous, with more than 7,000 kilograms of crabs alone, and many of them weighed more than 400 kilograms, with a total value of 300,000 to 400,000 yuan.
Including lobsters, cuttlefish, humphead wrasse and other catches, as well as the small yellow croakers caught earlier, Xiang Yang's net profit from this trip to the sea would be more than one million even if he didn't have any catches.
Xiang Yang was in a very good mood. He threw all the valuable catches into the water warehouse, kept the rare catches in water tanks, and put the remaining cheap sea fish into foam boxes with ice and salt. When they were sent to the freezer, the moon had already climbed to the zenith.
After cleaning up more than 20,000 kilograms of catch, the crew members were exhausted. "Captain, let's go and take a rest." Chen Fusheng said with a tired look on his face.
"Wait a minute." Xiang Yang smiled and stopped the crew member who was about to go to the cabin to rest, pointing to the sky, "What is that?"
The crew members looked up at the sky, and it was pitch black. What was going on
"It's the moon! Didn't you check the time? You can't even answer such a simple question. It's already past twelve o'clock, and now it's August 15th, the Mid-Autumn Festival." He Mingde laughed.
"Mid-Autumn Festival?" A group of crew members looked puzzled, and the thought of missing home came to their minds.
"I wish you all a happy Mid-Autumn Festival. May all your good things come as promised. Thank you all for wandering on the sea with me during the Mid-Autumn Festival. After discussing with my uncle, we decided to give each of you a red envelope of one thousand yuan." Xiang Yang produced a stack of red envelopes from his hand like a magic trick.