Chapter 225 Toad Fish
"Huh? There's a little one on its back."
Ye Yaodong placed it on the ground and looked at it with its mouth opening and closing. How could it look familiar?
"Damn it, this is a toad fish!"
He took a closer look and immediately thought of what it was. No wonder the pole on its head felt so familiar and looked so similar to the face of a toad fish. This horse was a toad fish.
The common toad fish is brown, but this one was suddenly black. No wonder they didn't recognize it for a while.
"Toad fish? Aren't all toad fish brown?"
"There are also black ones, which are rarer and have different varieties. It's really disgusting. The big mouth is still moving there. It's not dead yet. I'll give it a stick and let it die first."
Usually when they pull up a big fish, they will kill it first to prevent some fish that are not dead from exploding and hurting people.
They hadn't recognized this fish before, so they were so curious that they didn't move for a while.
After it died, Ye's father wanted to take off the small one on its back, but found that it was stuck to it and could not be removed. The small one was only three or four centimeters in size according to visual inspection.
Ye Yaodong explained: "The slightly bigger one is male, and the bigger one at the bottom is female."
When a male toad fish encounters a female, he will become parasitic and stay attached to her for life until death. This is commonly known as eating soft food!
Toad fish is what the locals call it. Its official name is angler fish or angler fish. It is a carnivorous fish on the bottom of the sea. It is usually most abundant in winter and spring.
Their bodies are short conical, but their heads are wide and flat, like a toad. Their mouths are large and full of jagged sharp teeth. Their eyes are on the back of their heads, and their bodies have no scales.
However, there are low and round protrusions on their forehead ridges. It is these protrusions that make them look "irregular" and ugly.
The longline he launched last time also did not put a float, but sank to the bottom to catch low-level fish, so he was able to catch this black toad fish.
The characteristic of this fish is that there is a fleshy protrusion above the head, like a small lantern, which is formed by the anglerfish's first dorsal fin gradually extending upward. The reason why the small lantern glows is because there are gland cells in the lantern.
Many fish in the sea have phototaxis, so they often use their little lanterns to catch food.
There is a lot of sticky mucus on it, which makes people feel disgusting when touching it, but it is a kind of colloid, and the fiber of the pulp inside is very elastic. The skin is rich in colloid, which can beautify the skin and increase the elasticity of the skin.
But because it looks ugly and feels disgusting, the price is very cheap.
"Ugly fish tend to cause mischief and waste time. Just keep reeling in the line."
This one is so big, it doesn't cost more than five cents a pound at most, and the smaller one may only cost two or three cents a pound.
Ye Yaodong muttered something and then continued to reel in the line, but it turned out that the hook was empty, and the bait on it was long gone. It must have been too long since he didn't come to reel in the bait, and it must have been ran away.
He didn't have much hope at first, it would be great if he could retract these threads.
I continued to reel in the line, only to find that I had caught another toad fish. This one was of normal length and was brown.
Maybe it’s because I’m fishing for the bottom fish. In addition to half of the hooks being empty, the remaining hooks are loaded with toad fish one after another, and the freshness is quite good.
Although it is cheap, it is still better than nothing.
As he reeled in the hook, he found that the hook was a bit heavy, and he immediately cheered up. As the line became shorter and shorter, both the father and son saw a long white fish, which was pulled out of the water and splashed with water.
figure.
Father Ye was also surprised, "Tarpon!"
This fish can be caught not only in the sea, but also in some freshwater rivers. Tarpon has the habit of migration. It is distributed in the coastal areas of the ocean and the waters where fresh water meets the sea.
Ye Yaodong grinned, finally finding a big fish, "Dad, help me fish the net over here. This one weighs several dozen kilograms and is difficult to pull."
Maybe it’s because it took too long to take the bait, so the activity of the big silver carp is not that good, and it feels like there’s more air coming out and less air coming in.
He had heard before that when a big silver carp takes the bait, it can easily jump 2-3 meters out of the water.
Just as he was shortening the length of the line to bring the fish closer to the side of the boat for his father to catch, he saw a large group of tarpon jumping up and down on the sea surface not far away.
"Dad, look there."
Father Ye was holding a fishing net and was about to lean over to catch fish when he heard his call and looked in the direction of his finger with confusion. He was also surprised, "Are they all tarpon?"
I saw that they actually jumped out of tricks and kept changing directions while leaping.
The tarpon's body is slender and flat on the sides, like a heavy saber. It is shining with silver and has a cold air all over its body.
This slender fish is very good at jumping, and can use the extended fins on the trailing edge of its dorsal fin to change direction from time to time during the jump.
"Fill this one up first. I'll put the buoy again. This fish comes up and just reaches the interface of a basket of branch lines. Untie the line and take it back. Re-tie the upper buoy and throw it down to mark it. Let's start the boat.
Go over there and have a look.”
This large silver carp is also very cheap. Although it looks delicious, its meat is actually soft and spiny, with a poor meat taste. It is usually pickled into salted fish.
But, although it is cheap, given its size, one fish is worth a few dollars. If you can catch a few more, you can also earn some gas money. Originally, today’s harvest situation was not very good.
But something went against their expectations. The father and son worked together to drag the big silver carp ashore, and when they fixed the fishing line, they found that the group of tarpon had stopped jumping and had all dived into the water.
Ye Yaodong did not give up, increased the power and drove the boat towards the sea where they just jumped.
Seeing the figure getting smaller and smaller under the sea, Father Ye quickly opened the hand-thrown net to the maximum extent. When the boat came over, he had already arranged the fishing net. When he came over, he found that they were diving to the bottom of the water.
Throw it as fast as you can.
After staying for a short while, the two of them worked together to pull up, and the biceps on their arms bulged high.
"Damn it, it's so heavy."
Each one weighs dozens of kilograms, and it's hard to pull just a few of them.
He felt that he needed a net hoist. Towing such a heavy cargo every three days would be too much for his arm strength. He originally thought that winter was coming and the chances of going to sea would be reduced. It would not be too late to wait until the next spring, but now it seems that it is ahead of schedule.
It's good to put it there.
If a big fish or fish comes from time to time, the arm will not be able to bear it.
The father and son gritted their back molars and moved the net up little by little. There were only four fish in this net, but each fish was over one meter, about 1.3 to 1.5 meters.
Altogether, they weigh two to three hundred kilograms.
"I'll throw it into the net again and see if there's anything left."
"It should be gone. They may have all swam to the depths of the seabed."
Father Ye thought it would be a good idea to give it a try, but he didn’t expect that it was really gone. This net only caught 4 soft silks and 9 prawns.
"Not bad, not bad. It's not a failure. You can take it back and eat it in the next few nights." Ye Yaodong happily picked up the ones on the deck into buckets and put them separately.
This soft silk and large prawns are both good products for him, and their whole family likes them.
Father Ye gave him a disgusted look and thought about eating it!
Ye Yaodong also saw the look in his father's eyes and didn't take it seriously. How could he understand the joy of simply eating and drinking?
After trying the net and catching nothing, they went back to collect the hooks.
As a result, the two sea bream I harvested were very smelly. They had been left out for too long, and the hooks had swallowed them deeply, so they died early.
Most of the lines collected next were empty hooks, and many fish were broken free.
After I received it, a few flounder also came up, both flatfish and turbot.
Because there is a fish on the left and a fish on the right.
The plaice-shaped flatfish has a peculiar shape that easily attracts attention because both eyes are located on one side of the head and there are no eyes on the other side.
Lay the fish flat, with its belly facing you. The one with its head facing left is a turbot, and the one with its head facing right is plaice, also called opium fish.
Ye Yaodong collected two items one after another and threw them directly into the basket.
It only took him more than an hour to catch 1,000 hooks, also because there were many empty hooks, so it saved a little effort today, there was no need to fight with the big fish, and the speed was faster.
After all the ropes were dismantled, he checked the cargo. In addition to the four tarpon caught with the hand-thrown net, he also caught three longlines, two baskets of toad fish, a few little devils, and a few flounder.
, they are all bottom fish, and there are a few soft silk fish, which is barely enough.
"Dad, let's eat first. After eating, we can drag two nets."
"what time is it?"
In the past, when there were no watches, they would not check the time. They would eat when they were hungry and return when the sun set. If there was no sun, they would return based on the situation. If the wind picked up, they would go back early.
Nowadays, it is much more convenient to have a watch to tell the time.
"It's 11 o'clock."
"Um."
The two of them went to the cabin to block the wind, each took out their cold lunch boxes, and ate heartily. There were no conditions, and they were not particular about it. They just wanted to fill their stomachs.
Fortunately, although it was cold, the food was really delicious and the portions were sufficient. Going to sea is hard work, so eating enough is the most basic requirement.
While Ye Yaodong was eating, he began to think about it. Maybe he could buy a coal stove when he went back and put the lunch box on it to heat it up. Otherwise, it would be so cold in the winter and the food would feel uncomfortable in his stomach.
You can also bring a small pot and some fresh water on the boat. When you eat, you can throw some freshly caught shrimps and crabs into it to cook for a snack. If you bring a small pot of rice wine, heat it up and drink two cups to warm your body. Think about it.
It feels pretty beautiful too.
Suddenly the cold food in his hand didn't taste good, but he had to eat it anyway, so he speeded up his eating.
Father Ye also speeded up when he saw this.
After the meal, the two rested in the cabin for a while before going out again to continue setting the net.
After the weather cools down, the wind might pick up at any time. Take advantage of this moment to quickly release the net and try to drag two more nets.
I've had a toothache all day, and I have no intention of typing. There's still a chapter I haven't finished yet, so I'm an hour late.
Chapter completed!