Fu Wan picked up her binoculars and looked in the direction of the water column. A creature that could spout such a large water column from the sea must be quite big.
Sure enough, the next second, a huge whale head emerged from the water. Fu Wan thought it was a humpback whale or a sperm whale, but when she looked closely, she found that it was a blue whale she had never seen before.
"My goodness, this blue whale is huge!"
It's no exaggeration to say that the distance from the whale's tail to where the water spout appeared was at least thirty meters!
This means that it was an adult blue whale.
"Ah Wan, should we chase after them too?"
Fu Liang ran over from the helm, and Fu Wan glanced at the blue whale in the distance. At this moment, they were still five or six hundred meters away from the blue whale.
There were many seabirds around the blue whale, which means that the blue whale was not simply surfacing to play, but was hunting.
"Let's follow them. Blue whales are docile and shouldn't attack ships, but don't get too close. Let's see if we can pick up any scraps from behind them."
After saying that, Fu Wan handed the binoculars to Fang Min and then quickly went back to the rest cabin to change her clothes.
She changed into clean clothes, and at the same time, she didn't forget to observe the blue whales in the distance through the window of the rest cabin.
At this moment, the blue whale opened its mouth wide, and then slowly closed it again.
Around its mouth, the seawater had turned rust-red, and as it opened its mouth, the rust-red hue quickly dispersed and then gathered together again.
Those are a swarm of krill!
Image of a krill swarm (removed if copyrighted).
As the favorite food of blue whales, krill is also very popular among humans.
Krill are a widely distributed and abundant invertebrate. They are a favorite food of whales, which like to appear in large groups. Whales love to encounter swarms of krill and can eat tons of them at a time.
Krill are extremely high in protein, small in size, and transparent in body. A typical krill is about two centimeters long, and the longest will not exceed five centimeters.
During the day, the krill swarms appear rust-red, while at night they glow with phosphorescence.
Image of krill (removed if copyrighted). Known as the "granary of the sea."
Krill is the most produced type of shrimp in the ocean every year. Because it is rich in nutrients, people often buy krill to make dried shrimp or shrimp paste.
In later generations, with the development of technology, methods were developed to process krill into krill oil. Krill oil has higher nutritional value than fish oil and is more suitable for human consumption.
Fu Wan had never seen krill oil in her previous life. If she hadn't seen that large patch of rust-red krill in the distance, she wouldn't have believed that there were so many krill in this area.
It's not just whales that like to eat krill; with such a large swarm of krill, there must be plenty of other fish craving a free meal.
Fu Wan's idea was to take advantage of the situation, like the mantis stalking the cicada unaware of the oriole behind, and try her luck without disturbing the blue whale's feeding.
The blue whale ate krill on the surface for more than half an hour before diving into the sea and slowly disappearing. As for the orca pod, they ran away the moment they spotted the blue whale.
Unfortunately, the relationship between orcas and blue whales is similar to that of humpback whales—a deep-seated feud.
After all, orcas are street thugs who like to provoke any creature other than humans and their own calves.
They didn't even spare the blue whale calves. Although Fu Wan hadn't seen it with her own eyes, judging from how fast the orca pod was running, the two sides must have a lot of grudges.
Although orcas are fast and intelligent, they may not necessarily have an advantage when facing the blue whale, the largest animal in the world.
Blue whales are not only large and fast, but they are also gentle in nature, though that doesn't mean they are without temper.
Seeing that the blue whale had left, Fu Wan had already returned to the helm room.
Seeing the rusty color that hadn't disappeared in the distance, she hurriedly told Fu Ming to adjust the direction and drive towards the still-dispersing swarm of krill.
At that moment, seabirds in the sky rushed to the surface of the sea, and many krill that were still on the surface of the water, or small fish that were catching krill, did not escape the sharp beaks of the seabirds.
Fu Ming was extremely anxious when he saw the countless krill on the sea surface.
With so many krill on the surface, who knows if there are any underwater?
Since trawling operations are all done on the seabed, wouldn't the shrimp on the surface just be left to watch?
Thinking of this, Fu Ming turned around and gave up the helmsman's position.
"Liangzi, you steer the boat, I'll go up to the back and get the net to check!"
Fu Liang naturally took the helm from Fu Ming without hesitation, and Fu Wan rang the ship's bell at that moment.
Everyone came out of the rest cabin. Fu Xiaochuan, Fu Erlu and the others looked at the rust-colored sea and thought they were still asleep.
"Holy crap, what are these?"
"Krill, don't just stand there, hurry up and use the net!"
Fu Ming shouted, and Fu Wan had already started catching shrimp with a net.
Fortunately, there were a few small-mesh hand nets that could be used to catch krill.
Seeing the net full of shrimp that Fu Wan had scooped up, everyone became much more alert.
Now, those with hand nets and those with casting nets all started working.
The krill aren't stupid; they were driven here by the blue whales.
Once the blue whale left, the krill swarm dispersed in just half an hour.
However, in just half an hour, Fu Wan and her team had a considerable harvest, catching a full ten baskets of krill.
This stuff isn't very expensive to sell directly, so Fu Wan plans to send it to a cannery so Qian Zhiming can try refining krill oil and making krill paste.
After picking out the seaweed from the krill, it was almost time to trawle.
Chen Balang got up to start the boat, while Fu Liang returned to the deck to operate the net-lifting machine.
Fu Laoda dozed off for an hour, but couldn't fall asleep anytime soon, so he decided to come to the deck to set up the net.
This was the biggest net of the day, and the net was so stretched it was about to burst. When Fu Laoda and Fu Wan saw this, they hurriedly went up and pulled the rope apart.
As soon as the rope was untied, the fish fell down again.
Those staring at the net bag felt a blur before their eyes, and the deck was covered in red.
"Holy crap, what are these? Why are they all shrimp I've never seen before?"
Fu Ming was shocked, while Fu Wan and Boss Fu both had bright smiles on their faces.
"Haha, peony shrimp! May Goddess Mazu bless us with so many peony shrimp!"
"Wow, this is really a windfall!"
Fu Ming and Ye Lin were completely confused; they were only focused on one question at that moment.
Are these shrimp valuable?
"Haha, valuable, extremely valuable!"
Fu Laoda laughed heartily and slapped Fu Ming on the back with delight.
"Not only is it valuable, but I've also heard it tastes amazing! Haha, this haul was totally worth it!"
After Fu finished speaking, he immediately picked up a peony shrimp about the size of a little finger from the ground.
He quickly peeled off the shell from the shrimp's tail and then stuffed it into his mouth.
"Mmm...sweet, so sweet! It truly is top-quality sashimi!"
Seeing Fu Laoda looking so engrossed, Fu Ming also picked up the peony shrimp at his feet, peeled it, and put it in his mouth.
Immediately, his eyes widened as he watched Fu Wan and the others nod repeatedly.
"Delicious! It's so fresh and sweet! Ah Wan, we have to keep some to take home!"
Fu Wan didn't used to like sashimi much, but seeing them like this, she couldn't help but peel a shrimp and put it in her mouth.
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