"Okay, let's open an internet cafe. I hope we can have a good start after the snowstorm." Xiang Yang said.
"Okay, I'll arrange it right away." Chen Qingsheng said and walked towards the back of the deck.
It was windy and snowy yesterday, and the winch on the ship was frozen by ice.
Chen Qingsheng and Zhou Wang fiddled with the winch motor at the stern for a long time before they finally got the winch to move.
Fortunately, although the winch was frozen by the ice, it was not damaged. After being successfully started, the huge fishing net was quickly sent to the bottom of the sea.
After the fishing net automatically spreads out due to the influence of the tide, all that remains is to wait for the fish to enter the net.
Time passed slowly, and Xiang Yang looked under the water from time to time. An hour later, more and more fish appeared on the sea surface.
Xiang Yang looked through the water and saw the huge group of Antarctic krill, which looked like a hornet's nest that had been poked.
"The fishery resources in this sea are quite good." Chen Qingsheng said with a smile.
"This is Antarctica, an area of sea that has never been developed by humans," said Xiang Yang.
Chen Qingsheng was looking forward to it. "Captain, at this rate, once the internet comes online, all our losses from yesterday should be recovered. Maybe we can even make a little more money."
Xiang Yang nodded. His luck has always been good. Even though he encountered a snowstorm yesterday, he didn't lose much. This net would definitely make up for yesterday's losses.
Soon, people on other fishing boats in the fleet also discovered the huge school of fish on the seabed and began to cast their nets.
Xiang Yang smiled and gave the order directly: "Collect the nets, let's quickly clean up this batch of fish and cast another net later."
"Yes, Captain." Xu Fang quickly turned on the winch.
Soon, a heavy noise came from the winch. Although the broken ice on the winch had been cleaned once, there were still some residues. Under the violent vibration of the motor, some broken ice flew everywhere, and even a few pieces of ice as big as walnuts fell directly on Xiang Yang.
Xiang Yang reached out to shake off the broken ice on his body, then looked up at the fishing net that was slowly being brought onto the boat.
Seeing this, Xiang Yang was a little disappointed.
The fishing net was not full of fish as Xiang Yang had expected.
"How can it be so little?" Chen Qingsheng also frowned. He had clearly seen a lot of sea areas during the voyage just now, but now that the fishing net was pulled up, it was just a long strip with a small bag of fish at the bottom, which might only weigh two or three thousand kilograms in total.
"Let's put the net bag down first and see what kind of catch is inside." Xiang Yang said in a deep voice.
Chen Qingsheng nodded. Although he was a little disappointed, he quickly led his men to drag the fishing net completely onto the deck and then untied the net.
After the fishing net was untied, Chen Qingsheng's face was filled with even more disappointment. The net was filled with worthless sea fish the size of a palm, without even a single ice fish or sturgeon that he wanted to catch.
Xiang Yang patted Chen Qingsheng on the shoulder and said with a smile: "It's not bad. There are eagle pomfret, but they are not very heavy, only one or two kilograms, not too valuable."
Chen Qingsheng nodded, "Let me clean up the catch first."
"Hmm? What is this? A ball of thorns?" Suddenly, Chen Qingsheng picked up an eagle pomfret. On the belly of the eagle pomfret, there was a strange marine creature that was covered with thorns, had a flat and round body, and was only the size of a coin.
"This should be biscuit sea urchin." Xiang Yang said uncertainly.
There are more than a thousand species of sea urchins in the world's oceans, such as the most common stinging sea urchin in my country, the most famous pencil sea urchin, the purple sea urchin unique to northern my country, and the inexpensive and high-quality horse dung sea urchin.
These sea urchins all have one common feature, which is that their standard structure resembles a hemisphere with spines.
But the biscuit sea urchin is different. The body of the biscuit sea urchin is flat, just like a biscuit. It does not have a symmetrical body like other echinoderms.
"That's impossible? Doesn't the biscuit sea urchin live in the tropics?" Chen Qingsheng frowned.
On the beaches along the southeastern coast of my country, people often find coin-sized empty shells of biscuit sea urchins, so many people believe that biscuit sea urchins are a warm water creature.
Actually, no.
Biscuit sea urchins have no mandatory requirements for water temperature. They can live in any shallow water area in the world, including the Antarctic, the Arctic, and the equator.
Xiang Yang pinched the biscuit sea urchin out of the eagle pomfret's belly with his two fingers.
"This sea urchin is so ugly, just like a piece of tripe." Fang Youqun said with a look of disgust.
Xiang Yang glanced at Fang Youqun, and then looked at the biscuit sea urchin in his hand. It was brown-gray in color, and covered with fine hairs. It looked very similar to tripe cut into small pieces.
"If you say it's ugly, it means you don't know how to appreciate it. The biscuit sea urchin is recognized worldwide as the most exquisite work of art in the animal kingdom." Xiang Yang said.
When Fang Youqun heard this, he almost jumped up as if someone stepped on his tail. "What? What is this? Brother Yang, you said this thing is an exquisite work of art?"
"It's not me who said it, it's recognized by everyone." Xiang Yang said speechlessly.
When the biscuit sea urchin swims on the seabed, it always drags a small house made of lime tiles with it.
This little house is very finely crafted and is hidden under the brown-gray fur of the biscuit sea urchin. It cannot be seen unless you look closely.
Xiang Yang handed the biscuit sea urchin to Fang Youqun.
Fang Youqun stared at it with wide eyes. After carefully examining it for several seconds, he said in amazement, "Hey, there really is a very strange outer shell."
"Of course, this is the iconic building of Biscuit Sea Urchin." Xiang Yang said.
Cookie sea urchins can secrete a body fluid that turns into a calcareous material after fossilization.
Each biscuit sea urchin begins to secrete this body fluid continuously from an early age, when it is only the size of a pea, to build its own little house.
When the biscuit sea urchin reaches adulthood, the biscuit sea urchin's house is built.
"This house looks a bit like a cookie," said Fang Youqun.
Xiang Yang nodded, "It is built in the shape of a biscuit. This biscuit is not the shell of the biscuit sea urchin, but its house. The entire biscuit house is made up of more than 600 ultra-small bricks that are tightly assembled together. As long as the biscuit sea urchin hides in the house, basically no marine creatures can attack them."
The body surface of the biscuit sea urchin is covered with spines. These spines are very small and look like fluff. These hairs can help the biscuit sea urchin dig in the sea sand, allowing the biscuit sea urchin to hide itself and its house under the sea sand.
With its calcareous shell, body covered with thorns, and superb hiding skills, no creature in the entire ocean, except cod, can kill the biscuit sea urchin.