Fang Youqun scratched his head. "In my impression, barnacles have always been a delicacy. How come they become scary animals in your mouths?"
Chen Qingsheng snorted, "That's because you are ignorant."
Xiang Yang interrupted, "Actually, Fang Youqun is right. Barnacles are indeed a delicacy."
Barnacles like to grow in the crevices of reefs where ocean currents exchange more frequently. These places that are often submerged in sea water are often very slippery, making them very difficult to pick.
Even so, barnacle hunters will still risk their lives to catch barnacles. They will wear non-slip shoes and use ropes and other tools to take advantage of the gap between low tide and the next high tide to pick this delicacy from hell from the exposed crevices of the reefs, because the price of barnacles is really very high.
Especially gooseneck barnacles.
The area where gooseneck barnacles grow can be described as a restricted area for humans. The process of picking them is extremely dangerous and difficult.
Fang Youqun was immediately proud when he saw Xiang Yang helping him, "I told you, barnacles are not that scary at all."
Xiang Yang looked at Fang Youqun, "Do you know what creatures in the ocean can kill adult sea turtles?"
Fang Youqun shook his head, indicating that he didn’t know.
Xiang Yang said: "There are not many marine organisms that can kill adult sea turtles. The most common one is undoubtedly barnacles."
"Um?"
Fang Youqun was stunned at first, then he immediately reacted, "How is this possible? I know barnacles can parasitize whales and turtles, but look at Datou, there are so many barnacles parasitizing on his body, but he is still alive, isn't he?"
Xiang Yang shook his head and said, "Whales are relatively large, with thick skin and flesh, so being parasitized by some barnacles will not pose a big threat to their survival. In addition, whales will instinctively remove some barnacles, so the number of barnacles attached to their bodies is relatively limited. However, for sea turtles, which are much smaller than whales, have a slow metabolism, and consume less energy, barnacle parasitism can often kill them."
Generally speaking, barnacles such as turtle barnacles and myoga prefer to parasitize slow-swimming turtles.
The junction of the turtle's shell and flesh is the most suitable place for barnacles to grow.
In October 2017, a marine zoologist discovered a green turtle parasitized by many barnacles in the northern waters of the South my country Sea. One of the barnacles even grew on its forehead.
Barnacle parasites have also been found on other turtles washed ashore.
Some sea turtles are infested with barnacles so densely that it gives people goose bumps at the first sight. Their entire bodies are covered with barnacles, so densely packed with bumps and depressions that it is completely unrecognizable as a sea turtle.
When barnacles parasitize on the turtle's body, it will directly increase the turtle's weight. The uneven growth of barnacles will also increase the resistance of the turtle's swimming, reducing its swimming speed. The turtle not only needs to waste more energy traveling with the barnacles and looking for food.
And in an ocean world where big fish eat small fish, the chances of being eaten by natural enemies also increase.
Therefore, sea turtles parasitized by a large number of barnacles are simply suffering a devastating disaster.
"Of course, these are all natural selection, there is nothing much to say."
"The main thing is that the impact of barnacles on humans, especially on fishing boats, is huge."
When a large number of barnacles "settle down" on surfaces such as docks, ship bottoms, and submarine optical cables.
Barnacles can become very harmful to human activities.
Taking ships as an example, as more and more barnacles attach to the bottom of the ship, the weight and resistance of the hull will increase, which will not only lead to an increase in fuel consumption, but also deepen the draft of the hull and increase the risk of running aground.
Take Xiang Yang for example. In order to reduce the losses and risks of the fishing boat when it sets sail next time, he had to spend money to hire someone to clean the barnacles on the bottom of the boat after returning to port this time. It was really not a worry-free thing.
Chen Qingsheng lowered his head and thought for a while, then suddenly said, "Captain, we can go back and ask someone to clean it up, but we can also clean it up ourselves. We have nothing to do now anyway, so why don't I take some people off the boat and clean up all the barnacles on the bottom of the hull?"
Xiang Yang looked at Chen Qingsheng, "I just went down to check, there are a lot of barnacles on the bottom of the ship, this is not a small project."
"It's okay." Chen Qingsheng said, "Don't worry about how many there are. Give me an iron chisel and I'll chisel them all off."
Xiang Yang nodded and said, "Okay, I'll go down with you."
Soon, Xiang Yang and Chen Qingsheng went down to the bottom of the sea with a dozen crew members.
It is difficult to remove the barnacles on whales because many of them have grown flesh into the whale's body. They are attached to the whale's body like screws.
These barnacles on the bottom of the boat are much easier to clean.
The bottom of the fishing boat was made of metal and it was very thick. Xiang Yang was not afraid that the iron chisel would drill through the bottom of the boat. When he saw barnacles everywhere, he just chiseled it downwards.
Of course, Xiang Yang knew that his method of manually cleaning barnacles was a relatively backward cleaning method.
In fact, the simplest way to clean barnacles is to wash them with a high-pressure water gun.
The bottom of an ocean-going fishing boat is extremely solid, and barnacles cannot take root directly on it like they do on whales, so they can be easily washed off the boat with a high-pressure water gun.
With this said, it seems that the barnacles are not that harmful to humans. After all, they are not an unsolvable threat.
In fact, this is not the case.
The real threat that barnacles pose to ships is not their weight and resistance.
After barnacles attach themselves to ships, they produce a highly acidic corrosive product. When the amount reaches a certain level, it will corrode the bottom of the ship, causing the bottom of the fishing boat to rust. In severe cases, it can even directly corrode the bottom of the ship. This is the main reason why humans really hate barnacles.
Therefore, when fishermen clean barnacles, they rarely do it themselves. They usually send the barnacles to the dock for cleaning.
After cleaning the barnacles on the bottom of the ship, the dock also needs to clean the rust on the bottom of the ship, then polish and grind it, and finally apply thick anti-rust paint and anti-fouling paint.
At present, some of the world's top shipyards apply a layer of toxic substances such as copper oxide and mercury oxide on the bottom of the ship when painting in order to prevent barnacles or other marine life from approaching the bottom of the ship.
These highly toxic substances will slowly seep out to the seabed, preventing the increase in the number of marine life to a certain extent.
However, as the paint on the bottom of the ship peels off, a large number of marine organisms will slowly attach to it, so the bottom of the ship must be cleaned every once in a while to ensure the normal operation of the ship.
This is also the real reason why the barnacles on the bottom of fishing boats are inedible.
In fact, these cylindrical barnacles on the bottom of the ship are non-toxic in themselves, and the toxins come from the anti-barnacle poison paint.