Upon arriving at the longline fishing spot and finding the buoy, Feng Xuan stopped the boat and went to the stern deck.
Feng Ye had already hooked the buoy and started reeling in the line.
The first five hooks were empty, but the bait was still on three of them.
It wasn't until the sixth hook that I felt its weight.
"The goods have finally arrived," Feng Xuan said with a smile.
Upon hearing this, Feng Xuan and A-Can perked up. A-Can asked, "How big is it?"
"He struggled violently, and it felt like he weighed more than five or six pounds."
Feng Ye pulled the line to the siding and lifted it up. A hideous, yellowish-brown fish, nearly half a meter long, appeared on the surface of the sea.
What kind of fish is this?
Ah-Can stared blankly at the ugly, strange fish on the sea surface.
"Is this a toadfish?"
Feng Xuan said uncertainly.
He thought it looked similar, but he had never seen a toadfish of this color before.
Feng Ye recognized what kind of fish it was.
This is indeed a type of anglerfish, scientifically known as monkfish, also called Anglerfish.
They often catch them in their waters, but they are usually dark brown; this yellowish-brown color is quite rare.
These are actually two species of anglerfish belonging to the same family but different genera, and are called black anglerfish and yellow anglerfish respectively, based on their color.
The toadfish is a bottom-dwelling carnivorous fish that often lies still on the seabed or moves slowly. It mainly feeds on various small fish or juvenile fish, but also eats various invertebrates and seabirds.
Its front half is flat and disc-shaped, while its body tapers to a cylindrical shape towards the rear.
Its two eyes are on the top of its head, and its huge mouth is as wide as its body. There is a row of sharp teeth pointing inward along the edge of its mouth. Its whole body has no scales.
There are cortical protrusions of varying sizes on the upper part of the head and the sides of the body, which look like tumors and make it look extremely ugly.
Because of its ugly appearance, it is known as the ugly fish in some places.
Because its cry sounds like an old man's cough, it is also known as the "old man fish" in coastal areas.
The fishermen only caught female toadfish, not males.
This is because the toadfish has a unique way of reproducing.
Once male toadfish reach sexual maturity, they must find a female to live on in order to survive, thus becoming dependent on her.
They bite the female fish, release an enzyme that dissolves skin tissue, and then bond with the female fish, receiving all their nutrition for the rest of their lives from her.
Male fish that cannot find a female will take another approach: they will change sex to become female and wait for a male to appear.
The toadfish's hunting method is also different from that of other fish.
Most other fish take the initiative to hunt, but the toadfish is like a fisherman, waiting for the fish to come to him.
It has a fleshy protrusion on the top of its head, shaped like a small lantern. Biologically, this is called a lure, which is formed by the gradual upward extension of its first dorsal fin.
The lantern glows because it contains glandular cells that secrete luciferin. Luciferin, catalyzed by luciferase, undergoes slow chemical oxidation with oxygen to produce light.
Many fish in the deep sea are attracted to light, so the small lantern fish becomes a powerful tool for toadfish to lure food.
In the past, the toadfish was considered a delicacy, with the saying "the west has pufferfish, the east has anglerfish".
Monkfish has a firm texture, similar to lobster, with elastic fibers and a more delicious flavor than other fish. It is also rich in collagen, which is why Westerners call it "the poor man's lobster".
Xiao Rizi loves monkfish hot pot, especially in winter. Besides hot pot, Xiao Rizi also uses monkfish liver as sushi.
Monkfish liver is also known as the "goose liver of the sea," and is said to have skin-beautifying and detoxifying properties. It is usually eaten steamed or as sashimi.
However, in China, because anglerfish look ugly and the sticky mucus on their skin is disgusting to the touch, they are incredibly cheap.
"Is this a toadfish? Aren't toadfish black?"
Ah-chan was confused.
“These kinds of toadfish aren’t from around here; they’re found further north. I don’t know how this one ended up here.”
Feng Ye explained and then pulled him up forcefully.
Despite its length of about half a meter, this toadfish is actually quite lightweight, weighing at most three or four kilograms.
"It's really ugly, no wonder it's called a toadfish. Should we kill it?"
Ah-Can looked at it with disdain, but its sharp teeth made him somewhat wary.
"Whatever you want."
Feng Ye didn't care; the life or death of anglerfish had almost no impact on the price, since they were all very cheap anyway.
"Kill it, so you don't accidentally get bitten."
"I think so too, let's just let it die first."
After killing it with a knife, Ah-chan felt relieved enough to put the hook in its mouth and remove it before throwing it into the basket.
Meanwhile, Feng Ye had already retrieved several more lines, but all of them ended up empty hooks.
Feng Xuan and A Can were speechless; there were just too many empty hooks.
Feng Ye was speechless, but there was nothing anyone could do if the fish didn't bite.
As I continued reeling in the line, I discovered another toadfish had been caught. This time, it was a toadfish that was normally found in this area, and it was dark brown.
For some reason, we started catching toadfish every now and then.
But Feng Ye clearly remembered that toadfish did not have the habit of gathering in groups!
Although this fish is indeed very cheap, something is better than nothing, and it's better than a bare hook.
After collecting five baskets of fish line without catching a single big fish or a valuable catch, Feng Ye was starting to feel listless.
Suddenly, he felt a weight on his hand, and his spirits lifted.
A large shipment has arrived!
It feels like it weighs at least 20 pounds.
Feng Ye excitedly reeled in the line, and as the line tightened, a long, thin shape gradually emerged on the sea surface.
"Damn, what's that? A sea wolf?"
Feng Ye was extremely disappointed. He had thought it was something good, but it turned out to be a sea wolf.
"Not bad, it's so big, it can fetch a good price."
Feng Xuan, however, did not mind.
Although sea bream are also cheap, they are much more expensive than toadfish.
Sea wolves have a tendency to congregate in groups, so quite a few sea wolves took the hooks from the following ones.
Perhaps because of the storm the day before yesterday, and because Feng Ye didn't go out to sea yesterday, the fish that had gathered together dispersed.
Moreover, we didn't spend much time at sea today, so not enough fish gathered, resulting in very few fish biting the hook.
With a thousand hooks, the catch rate is only about 10%, and there are no good fish, just ordinary ones.
In total, we caught about twenty toadfish, more than thirty barracuda of various sizes, and the rest were sea bass, black sea bream, yellow sea bream, and mackerel.
Because there were so many empty hooks, it took less time; we finished collecting them all in just over an hour.
After finishing the longline fishing, I put the neatly arranged basket of longline fish back down.
The Rising Sun set sail once again, heading towards home.
...
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