Chapter 321 Bryde's Whales Drive Large Schools of Fish
The big ship seemed to be traveling on blue ink. Liang Ziqiang looked forward from the cab. The sea was deep blue, the sky was light blue, and the whole world turned into a blue world.
But the sea surface is not flat. The closer to Liang Ziqiang, the lower it is; the farther away, the higher it is.
From a broad perspective, the sea looks like a blue staircase, a flowing slope.
The reason is simple, the earth is not flat, it is round.
Therefore, the entire sea surface is not actually flat, but low near and high far away. Only in such a vast and boundless sea surface can this strange vision be presented in a shocking way.
Perhaps because there are relatively few ships operating in the deep sea these days, there is not a single other ship in sight.
This is a real silence, a silence in which everything in the world is simplified and cleared away.
However, the silence was soon broken.
There were some white seagulls flying sporadically in the sky, not particularly conspicuous between the light blue sky and white clouds.
But at this moment, the white seagulls suddenly seemed to have received some signal collectively, and gathered towards the water surface in front from all directions.
Suddenly, a large group of seagulls scrambling to get ahead appeared on the deep blue sea, making it immediately conspicuous and adding a bit of noisy meaning.
"Is there a school of fish over there? Seagulls are better at finding fish than we are!"
On the deck, Deng Zhaocai had already started shouting.
At this time, the lookout at the bow had already been replaced by Zhu Tianpeng. He also quickly noticed the sudden bustle on the sea and turned around to ask Liang Ziqiang loudly:
"Shall we go closer and take a look? If there really is a school of fish passing by, our trawl nets will be able to catch more fish!"
Liang Ziqiang nodded to them, began to slowly adjust the direction, and drove slowly towards the sea in the distance where white seagulls suddenly gathered.
Sure enough, as soon as he turned the steering wheel, he saw that the water surface had changed again.
In the dark blue sea, many small fish jumped up and scrambled out of the water.
"You're right, there really is a school of fish underwater!" Deng Zhaocai said happily, "The fish aren't big, but there should be a lot of them!"
As they were talking, the group of seagulls had surrounded the school of fish and started to take their bites.
For a moment, white birds were flying above and small silver fish were jumping below, flashing tiny specks of light.
When Liang Ziqiang was driving the boat a few minutes closer, his hand on the steering wheel suddenly retracted.
The sea level seemed to be punctured suddenly, and a small hill rose out of the water.
A very standard triangle, black mountain! As Liang Ziqiang watched, the triangular black mountain moved left and right a few times.
Then, as if an inexplicable suction force was emitted, all the small fish that were jumping out of the sea suddenly fell back into the sea and fell into the hole of the triangular "hill".
"Oh my god, there's a big creature! Looking at it, it's either a shark or a whale!" Deng Zhaocai screamed.
Seeing this, Liang Ziqiang subconsciously slowed down the boat.
The big guys in the deep sea weigh tens or even dozens of tons. Even a 24-meter steel ship like his is better to keep some distance.
In my sight, the big triangular mouth continued to swallow. Every time it opened, it sucked all the sea water and flying fish into its mouth.
It looked as if it had swallowed a whole wave, and the small fish mixed in the waves seemed countless.
At the same time, some white seagulls were also sucked into the big mouth along with the school of fish!
"Fuck, this is eating both fish and birds!" Lu Song on the side also shouted.
A curtain of water and countless fish and flying birds rolled down like a whirlpool. The scene was very shocking!
However, the next moment, an even stranger scene occurred.
Those white seagulls that had just been sucked into the big mouth suddenly flapped their wings and flew out of the big mouth!
Then, more white seagulls rushed in one after another, rushing into the big mouth to grab the fish in it! "This is really called snatching food from the tiger's mouth!" Lin Liming also blurted out.
Although they had worked on state-owned ships and had been to the deep sea, they did not always encounter whales, sharks and birds competing for food.
"These damn seagulls are so brave that they don't care about their lives!" Deng Zhaocai laughed.
"They can't die, these are Bryde's whales!" Liang Ziqiang replied loudly.
Liang Ziqiang had already recognized that the triangular hill in front of him with dark blue skin that was almost black was exactly the shape of the big mouth that was unique to the Bryde's whale.
It can also be said that it is the upper part of the Bryde's whale's big mouth, and the lower jaw is hidden in the water because it is open.
If the lower jaw also emerges from the water, two small black hills will be formed.
Bryde's whales are a type of baleen whale. Almost all baleen whales have one thing in common: despite their huge size, their esophagus is very small, only a few centimeters or more than 10 centimeters wide.
They are filter-feeding whales that often open their huge mouths and swallow large amounts of seawater.
Then it spits out the sea water through filtering, while small fish and shrimp are blocked and remain inside the body.
This means that they can only swallow large quantities of extremely small fish and shrimps.
Fish like these are too big for seabirds and cannot enter their esophagus at all. If they are swallowed into their mouths, they will be spit out quickly.
This is probably why these white seagulls are so fearless and dare to snatch food from the whale's mouth!
Not only did the number of seagulls not decrease over the water, but there were even more circling in the distance. When they saw the Bryde's whale sticking its head out of the water, they flew towards it happily as if they had discovered a treasure.
For a moment, seagulls covered the sky and the earth, making waves of cries, making the originally empty ocean very noisy. The black whales and countless flying white birds formed a unique landscape with sharp contrast.
Countless white birds poured out from the whale's mouth continuously, making it seem like a large-scale magic show...
Suddenly, other colors appeared among the white flock of birds.
They were joined by a flock of brown birds, larger than the white gulls and coming with greater force.
Suddenly, it was like a large piece of coffee was splashed in the ice and snow! The group of brown birds joined in, first snatching the fish, then attacking the white seagulls, pecking them fiercely, and in the blink of an eye, the white seagulls were scattered and fled.
Its sturdy body and hook-like curved beak give it exceptionally strong attacking power.
"The skuas are coming!" Liang Ziqiang shouted loudly.
Skua are larger than ordinary seagulls and have extremely strong fighting power.
This guy has a very bad reputation among seabirds and is known as the "sky robber". This is not difficult to see from the name "Skua".
Skuas are used to getting something for nothing, and never build their own nests, but instead take over other birds' nests and steal food from other birds' mouths. Once they have filled their stomachs, they just sit there and do nothing.
This group of skuas soon completely replaced the white gulls and aggressively snatched the small fish from the mouth of the Bryde's whale.
The Bryde's whale seemed to realize that the delicious food it had just eaten was about to be snatched away by the skua, so it quickly closed its mouth.
Unexpectedly, more skuas aimed at the head and back of the Bryde's whale and pecked at it with their shiny black hooked beaks.
Each time it pecked, it tore off a piece of skin, flesh, and fat from the Bryde's whale...
"What the hell is this whale? It's being bullied by a bird!" Deng Zhaocai stared in surprise with his eyes wide open.
Bryde's whales are good-tempered and are not easy to come across even in the deep sea, so it was the first time that Deng Zhaocai saw a Bryde's whale being bullied by a skua.
Not to mention him, even Liang Ziqiang, who was driving a trawler, couldn't take his eyes off it. This strange scenery is usually never seen in shallow waters.
The Bryde's whale was unable to withstand the attack of the skuas, so it dived back into the sea and began to swim.
Driven by the Bryde's whale, the school of fish swam towards this side.
"Look, a large school of fish is coming!" Zhu Tianpeng at the bow shouted a warning.
The whale had not arrived yet, but a large school of fish was like a silver wave, trying to break away from the Bryde's whales and skuas, and sweeping towards Liang Ziqiang.
A silver light was getting closer and closer on the blue sea.
The surging school of fish was completely unaware that there was a giant steel beast with a strange green dancing bag on its tail, waiting to harvest from them...
The wave-like school of fish was getting closer and closer, but at the same time, the looming, floating and sinking figure of the big whale was getting closer and closer to the fishing boat.
Liang Ziqiang could even tell from its back moving under the water that the length of this Bryde's whale was about ten meters. A Bryde's whale of this size would probably weigh more than ten tons.
Now Liang Ziqiang is facing a very realistic problem:
If you want to harvest the large-scale fish school that is sweeping over, you will face the risk of a head-on collision with Bryde's whales; if you want to avoid Bryde's whales, you will most likely have to abandon the fish school and miss out on such a large wave of fish.
The consequences of a collision with a Bryde's whale might not be something he could bear. Even if he was not overturned, the hull might be damaged, causing a malfunction.
But I was somewhat reluctant to give up the large school of fish that was right under my nose...
This is the time when the captain needs to make analysis and decisions the most.
Liang Ziqiang estimated the distance between himself and the whale and determined that it would take some time for the Bryde's whale to follow after the school of fish pounced.
He decided to take advantage of this time difference, choose a good angle, fight quickly, and harvest a wave of them quickly! The steel ship had quietly turned, with the bow tilted in the opposite direction of the Bryde's whale, ready to escape in advance.
As the ship turned, the silver school of fish swirled and moved like stars in Liang Ziqiang's vision.
The entire sea surface turned into a blue dial.
The big steel ship is like the swinging minute hand on the dial, and the silver school of fish is like another swinging second hand.
Spin and spin again.
The minute hand and the second hand finally intersected on the blue dial.
The intersection of the two is exactly the stern part of the steel ship.
The huge green trawler at the stern seemed to be aware of the influx of fish, and it fluttered and spread its wings in the water.
Like strong grass in the strong wind, and a furious horse in the flying sand.
There were countless fish caught in the current, and a considerable number of them were swept into the trawl net by the current at the stern of the boat!
Of course, many more schools of fish followed closely behind.
But Liang Ziqiang did not linger in the battle. After harvesting a large number of fish, he immediately increased the speed of the boat and headed decisively to the opposite side.
It's like drawing a knife in a torrent and cutting the water.
After he had safely retreated some distance, the Bryde's whale finally arrived and chased after the school of fish.
At this point, there was no longer any threat of a collision.
"Good! Well done!" Even Zhu Tianpeng, who watched the whole process on the boat, couldn't help but applaud.
"It's a pity that there are still a lot of fish and we didn't catch them!" Lu Song said regretfully.
"Forget it," Liang Ziqiang shook his head and said, "We can only catch this much. If we catch more, we'll easily hit a whale!"
When Liang Ziqiang made the judgment and decision, safety was the top priority from the very beginning.
If only a part of the fish school is harvested, there is no risk of failure. That is why Liang Ziqiang dared to race with Bryde's whales to harvest a part of them.
If you are greedy and try to harvest all the fish, the consequences will probably outweigh the gains.
Liang Ziqiang continued to sail forward for a while, while Deng Zhaocai stood on the side of the boat, leaning against the iron railing and looking to the rear of the boat.
"Brother Qiang, look! The big whale has gone, but the school of small fish is still here! We can still keep fishing!"
Deng Zhaocai had actually been paying attention to the movements behind the boat. He discovered that the whale's back was swimming farther and farther away, as if it was leaving, but the school of small fish had not completely dispersed and was still moving forward on the sea.
"Really?"
After Liang Ziqiang confirmed it, he immediately decided to adjust the course again and approach the remaining group of fish.
This time, the trawling nets reaped another wave of catch where the big ship passed.
Now, the fish school had no choice but to disperse, and after this battle, their numbers were immediately greatly reduced.
"Wait, what is that? Those birds are chasing us too!" Lin Liming shouted.
Liang Ziqiang also saw it.
In fact, from the very beginning, several seabirds followed the schools of fish and Bryde's whales and flew towards them.
But at that time there were only a few scattered ones. At this time, Liang Ziqiang saw more and more seabirds, probably dozens or even hundreds.
And it was not an ordinary seagull, but a brown skua! It flew closer and closer. At first, it looked like coffee beans scattered in the air, but as it got closer, it looked like brown hats flying in the air.
Some of the skuas witnessed Liang Ziqiang's iron ship catching the fish.
More skuas that came over later found that the considerable number of fish suddenly became few and far between. After a little thought, they seemed to realize that the problem lay with this huge lump of iron.
First, a few skuas circled over the steel ship, made some adjustments, and then suddenly dived downward.
A skua pecked at the glass in front of Liang Ziqiang with its sharp beak, but luckily it deflected and only hit the iron frame of the window...
Even so, it was the first time that Liang Ziqiang saw the hard, shiny black, curved beak of the bird so vividly, like some kind of weapon.
He clenched his fist and groaned. Damn, the scimitar coming at him had a direct visual impact! Looking out the window, there were several other skuas that were extremely brave and had already rushed towards the heads of Zhu Tianpeng, Deng Zhaocai, Lu Song and other crew members.
"Don't be in a daze! Get the things and deal with them!" Liang Ziqiang shouted out the window.
Deng Zhaocai picked up a thick wooden stick. Well, it was still the same wooden stick that was used to beat the fish thieves. Now it was moved from the lotus boat to the big steel ship.
Zhu Tianpeng used local materials and picked up a bucket.
Lu Song, Lin Liming, and Liang Chun held hand nets and baskets. For a moment, weapons were in great variety.
After all, no one thought that they would be able to have such a battle with the Jaegers in their lifetime...
The skua's hooked beak pecked at the basket, making a loud noise.
I caught a skua with a hand net. If the stupid bird hadn't run so fast, it might have become my dinner today.
Deng Zhaocai's thick wooden stick waved in the air several times, and finally hit a skua. The skua screamed, and it was almost destroyed. It flew crookedly and soon fell into the deep blue sea.
It seems that this thick wooden stick is up to the task and is a professional tool for beating thieves, whether they are fish thieves or skuas.
However, the number of skuas did not decrease after being beaten. Instead, more and more skuas came in groups.
Suddenly, a brown storm formed above the steel ship. This amazing posture really had the rhythm of "air robbery".
"There are still many baskets on the boat! Anyone who can hold a basket should pick it up and hold it above their heads!" Liang Ziqiang shouted again.
He was no stranger to skuas, mainly because he often saw them on the Ocean Channel.
It is reported that this bird is very nasty. When it occasionally conflicts with deep-sea fishing boats in later generations, it will peck and grab if it can. If it can't win, it will scream, stick up its tail, and poop above the fishermen's heads! "Fuck, fuck, fuck! What is this on my arm? It stinks!"
Sure enough, after a while, Deng Zhaocai was heard screaming and spitting.
After all, those dozens of skuas were only gulls, not eagles. Although they were usually very cruel to the good-tempered Bryde's whales, after fighting with humans for a round, they found that these guys who were standing and walking were not easy to deal with. Therefore, they did not dare to pounce on them for close combat.
But it would be a mistake to think that they would just give up.
What they are doing now is the worst trick, throwing stink bombs! Dozens or even hundreds of skuas are collectively defecating overhead, treating Liang Ziqiang's ship as a luxurious toilet! Who can handle this scene? !
Amid the screams, several crew members finally figured out why Liang Ziqiang had shouted in advance for them to lift the baskets.
What a painstaking effort!
In any case, with the protection of the basket, the chastity of the head and face was preserved.
Deng Zhaocai was really a fierce man. Seeing that the skuas were almost gone, he threw away the basket, swung up the thick stick, and knocked a few more away. Several seriously injured skuas fell into the rolling waves again, spilling blood on the sea...
Seeing this, Zhu Tianpeng and his companions knew that the skua had not much food left in its stomach, so they followed Deng Zhaocai and found shovels and other tools to start beating the skua.
This group of skuas have probably traveled all over the world for many years and have never suffered such a big loss.
After circling for a while, it finally didn't dare to be their enemy anymore and flapped its wings away.
Liang Ziqiang breathed a sigh of relief.
It is said that the deep sea is dangerous and unpredictable. Who would have thought that the first time I ventured into the deep sea, I did not encounter any other dangers, and the huge Bryde's whale did not pose a big threat. Instead, I was annoyed by a bird! Fortunately, the bird was driven away and the fish was caught! (The picture of the Bryde's whale has been posted in the "This Chapter Comments" section below.) (End of this chapter)
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