Although most krill will contain a very strong toxin if not handled properly after death, due to their huge number and rich nutrition, they are still considered a potential food source for humans.
Especially Antarctic krill, which can provide the human body with a large amount of vitamin A, and the quantity is very abundant. According to incomplete statistics from the United Nations, the annual output can reach 500,000 tons, and the total quantity exceeds 100 billion tons. It is the largest food warehouse for mankind in the future.
Of course, because today's fishing technology is not advanced enough, Antarctic krill is difficult to transport back to the shore alive, so krill is not used as human food most of the time, but as an important food resource for pets or the main feed for aquaculture.
This is especially true for my country, as its distant-water fishing industry started late and many of its technologies cannot keep up with other major fishing countries in the world. The amount of Antarctic krill caught each year is even smaller.
Of course, this is also related to our country's strong environmental awareness.
For example, Russia has very advanced deep-sea fishing technology. However, in the 1980s and 1990s, countries around the world engaged in extensive fishing of Antarctic krill in Antarctica, causing a sharp decline in the number of Antarctic krill. Russia announced that it would abandon its krill fishing business.
Before this, Russia was the largest fisherman of Antarctic krill, with an annual catch of more than 100,000 tons.
However, it is worth mentioning that Antarctic krill cannot be fed directly to cats and dogs as pet food.
Antarctic krill contains more salt than ordinary shrimp and tastes saltier. Cats and dogs generally should not consume too much salt.
If krill are to be eaten by humans, the shells must be removed.
At this time, Fang Youqun used a bamboo with a long trap tied to the front to reach into the ice cave, and then with the joint efforts of several people, he struggled to get the trap out of the ice cave.
Sure enough, there was a cage full of Antarctic krill.
"Hey, Brother Yang, look, I caught a particularly large Antarctic krill." Fang Youqun opened the ground trap and was about to clean the Antarctic krill inside. Suddenly, he seemed to have discovered something and shouted loudly with great excitement.
Xiang Yang turned his head to look over there, and sure enough, Fang Youqun was holding a shrimp in his hand that looked very similar to Antarctic krill, but was only four or five centimeters in size.
Compared with the ordinary Antarctic krill which is one or two centimeters in size, four or five centimeters is definitely a giant.
"This is not Antarctic krill." Xiang Yang shook his head.
Gao Chuang also said happily: "This thing is not even a shrimp, but you are lucky, you actually caught one."
When Fang Youqun heard this, he immediately asked excitedly, "Is this thing valuable?"
"It's not a question of whether it's valuable or not. It's just that it's very hard to catch. It's called a salp. It generally likes to live in the cold waters of the Southern Ocean. It's a marine creature that is very important to its environment."
Salp is a marine invertebrate that looks very similar to Antarctic krill, but it is definitely not Antarctic krill.
In the past, many fleets caught salps, which were once mistaken for Antarctic krill kings.
In fact, salps are more like jellyfish.
Saying that salps are very important to the marine environment in which they live does not mean that they are a very important link in the marine food chain, but that salps can transport carbon from the ocean surface back to the deep ocean, providing an opportunity for carbon in the atmosphere to be transferred out.
"Look again. There should be more than one salps here. Salps, like Antarctic krill, also travel in groups. Moreover, salps and Antarctic krill compete with each other. Their food is roughly the same. Since there are so many Antarctic krill in this area, the number of salps must not be too few." Xiang Yang ordered.
Moreover, Antarctic krill is the main food source for many Antarctic creatures, such as penguins and killer whales, while salps are basically not eaten by other animals. As long as Antarctic krill and salps coexist in the sea, the number of salps will basically continue to increase as the number of Antarctic krill decreases.
Xiang Yang twisted the salp into his palm and looked at it carefully. "In Antarctica, there are many unique marine creatures, such as icefish with milky white blood. This salp can actually be considered a unique marine creature. It has a unique open-tube blood circulation system. Every few minutes, the blood in its body will be reversed."
The reason why Xiang Yang asked Fang Youqun to take a closer look to see if there were any salps in the fish basket was not because salps were more valuable than Antarctic krill, but because Xiang Yang wanted to pick them out separately.
Xiang Yang just wanted to make a simple classification. Salps are salps, and Antarctic krill are Antarctic krill. These two creatures should not be mixed together.
As for the price, if it were really sold on the market, the sales of this sea ascidian might not be as good as Antarctic krill.
At this time, a crew member in the distance suddenly shouted loudly: "Icefish, come and see, there is an icefish under the ice cave on my side."
Everyone was immediately attracted.
There are a lot of Antarctic krill, but the real money-making stuff is top-quality seafood like icefish.
"You go ahead and do your thing. I'll go over there and take a look first." Gao Chuang hurried over there.
Xiang Yang looked at Chen Qingsheng and said, "Let's go over and take a look."
When Xiang Yang arrived at the ice cave, it was already surrounded by people from various boats.
However, after Gao Chuang arrived there, the crowd immediately dispersed and became busy again, with only their eyes occasionally drifting towards this side.
Xiang Yang took the opportunity and finally reached the edge of the ice cave. He looked down and saw, as expected, a dozen very fat ice fish greedily feeding on Antarctic krill under the ice cave. Two of them even stayed under the ice cave, seemingly to get some air.
"Is there any way to catch these ice fish?" Gao Chuang immediately asked around.
Gao Chuang has already seen the ice fish with his own eyes. If he doesn't catch it, he wouldn't be a fisherman. He knows that ice fish swim very fast under the water, and with such a thick layer of ice between them, the hope of catching it is very slim. But he has to give it a try anyway, right
"Boss, we will try our best." A fisherman in his thirties or forties, covered with a large mink coat, said immediately.
Xiang Yang glanced at the person who was speaking. Xiang Yang knew this person. His surname was Zhang, and he was the captain of one of the trawlers in Gao Chuang's fleet.
"Well, don't feel pressured. Just go for it. If you don't catch it, then you don't catch it. I won't blame you. If you do catch it, I'll give you a bonus at the end of this month." Gao Chuang said loudly.
Upon hearing this, Captain Zhang immediately broke into a bitter smile.
If this wasn't on the ice, even if he jumped down, he would definitely be able to catch one or two. But this was on the ice, how could he let go and catch them