Feng Ye pulled over a basket and began sorting the fish and shrimp on the deck.
Fang Yi also squatted down to help.
However, he wasn't that serious; he was just picking and choosing casually, as if it were a game.
When he encountered unfamiliar fish or shrimp, he would curiously pick them up and examine them, then ask Feng Ye what kind they were and whether they tasted good.
Feng Ye was annoyed by this foodie, but still patiently answered all his questions.
There are countless creatures in the sea, and he doesn't know them all, but he is very familiar with the common ones.
After the two boatmen lowered the net, they quickly came over to work.
With so much cargo on deck, if we don't hurry, the next catch will be coming up soon.
As they were working on the deck, Ye Chenliang suddenly called out from the platform, "Aye, come up here for a moment."
"What's wrong?"
Feng Ye stopped what he was doing, looked up in confusion, and asked.
"Your brother called and said there's a big fish ramming the Dong Sheng ship."
Upon hearing this, everyone stood up and turned to look in the direction of the Dong Sheng.
It was just too far away, and the sea was turbulent, so we couldn't see anything.
Feng Ye quickly climbed into the driver's seat and asked anxiously, "Did my brother say what kind of fish it was?"
"They didn't say, and I didn't have a chance to ask."
"Let's go over and see what kind of fish it is."
"Uh... okay."
Ye Chen nodded, adjusted the course, and moved closer to the Dong Sheng.
The telescope isn't on the Donglai, it's still on the Dongsheng; otherwise, we wouldn't have gone through all this trouble.
Generally speaking, no matter what kind of fish it is, it will not attack fishing boats, unless it is a shark that has been stimulated by the smell of blood.
This is also what Feng Ye is most worried about.
Small sharks are fine, not scary, and pose no threat to the Dong Sheng.
However, there are some big sharks among them.
For example, great white sharks can grow up to 8 meters long, and when they go berserk, they are enough to capsize small fishing boats.
The Dong Sheng is large and unlikely to be capsized, but with so many people on board, there's no guarantee that someone won't get hurt.
I still vividly remember the great white shark I encountered on the way back from the island of the sea; its frenzied appearance remains clear in my mind to this day.
Feng Ye's heart tightened, and he quickly picked up the walkie-talkie: "Brother, is a great white shark hitting the ship?"
Soon, Feng Xuan's voice rang out, tinged with tension: "It's not a great white shark, nor a shark, but a huge fish covered in barnacles. We don't recognize it."
"A giant fish covered in barnacles?"
Feng Ye felt a little relieved; at least it wasn't a shark.
"Yes, it was completely covered in barnacles and kept ramming our boat."
"How big is that fish? Did you hit it hard?"
"ah?"
Feng Xuan was taken aback. "The fish was huge, more than ten meters long, but it didn't seem very strong. It just kept bumping against things, which looked quite scary."
Feng Ye was no longer worried.
There are two main types of large creatures in the ocean that are over ten meters long: baleen sharks and whales.
Most species of these two creatures are docile and generally do not attack ships unprovoked.
Considering that this huge creature was covered in barnacles, he had a guess in his mind.
"Brother, it's okay. Didn't you say the impact wasn't strong? Maybe it just used the Dong Sheng as a tickle. The barnacles made it uncomfortable, so it rammed the ship to try and remove some of them."
Upon hearing this, Feng Xuan breathed a sigh of relief and calmed down: "That's really possible. What can we do? We can't just let it keep crashing like that."
"Don't rush, let me come over and see what kind of fish it is."
"good."
Feng Ye put down the walkie-talkie, turned around and left the cockpit, went to the platform outside, and carefully observed the sea around the Dong Sheng.
Sure enough, he saw a huge dark shadow looming in and out of the seawater.
Only when he got closer could he see what the big guy looked like.
It wasn't a fish, but a gray whale.
The slowest swimming whale – the gray whale
Its body is spindle-shaped, with a thick trunk that is thickest near the flippers and gradually tapers towards the tail.
From the areas not covered by barnacles, its body color can be seen to be dark gray with white spots.
This is actually where its name comes from; some people also call it the "grey rocky shore swimmer".
Gray whales are the most severely parasitized of all whale species, with large numbers of whale lice infesting their bodies.
Because it is the slowest swimming whale, generally at 3 to 4 knots per hour, and at most no more than 7 to 8 knots per hour, its body is often covered with a large number of barnacles.
Barnacles, as one of the most common parasitic organisms in the ocean, can be said to "parasitize almost anything".
For a whale of such enormous size, the weight of a single barnacle is negligible and does not cause any real harm.
However, the total weight of an entire group of barnacles can be astonishing, reaching up to 450 kilograms.
This increases swimming resistance, resulting in sluggish movement.
If a whale's fins are covered with barnacles, it will have difficulty swimming; if its head is covered with barnacles, its vision will be easily blocked, making it practically blind.
In addition, barnacles provide a "refuge" for another whale parasite—whale lice—increasing the whale's health risks.
Whale lice are not insects; they are marine crustaceans that primarily live in the folds and wounds of whales.
They eat the skin that has been peeled off the whale, as well as the flesh from open wounds, which seriously affects the whale's health.
Like the gray whale in front of us, its body is covered with barnacles, even on its head and fins, so you can imagine how poor its health is.
Feng Ye also saw it; the gray whale was indeed ramming the Dong Sheng with its body from time to time.
However, it didn't look like it was attacking the Dong Sheng in a frenzy; the impact wasn't very strong.
The Dong Sheng only swayed slightly when it was hit, and the tremors were not as strong as those caused by the waves.
However, the boatmen on the ship were all frightened, their faces pale, watching nervously from a distance.
After all, this thing was too big, almost half the length of the Dong Sheng, and it looked terrifying.
Feng Ye entered the driver's seat and contacted Feng Xuan again: "Brother, this is a gray whale. It's not aggressive and is very gentle. Don't be afraid."
"That's good. It really didn't seem aggressive. Maybe it just wanted to rub off the barnacles on its body."
Feng Xuan calmed down completely this time, and then asked, "The problem is how to shake it off? Otherwise, it will be scary for everyone to watch, and it will be inconvenient to close the net later."
"Increase your speed and drive forward. The gray whale is slow, and with so many barnacles on its body, we might not be able to catch up."
"I'll give it a try."
"Um."
Feng Ye hung up the call, told Ye Chenliang not to get too close to the Dong Sheng and to keep a safe distance, and then went down.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
