The East Star Grouper is a type of grouper, but it is more slender than other groupers, with a small head and its body covered with fine white spots. It prefers to live alone and inhabits rocky bottoms, nearshore coasts, and lagoons.
They are ferocious and gluttonous by nature. Juvenile fish feed on crustaceans, especially shrimp, while adult fish love to eat coral fish and will even eat juvenile fish of their own kind.
Because it resembles stars in the sky, it is called "star-spotted". As for the character "东" (Dong), it is because it is produced in the Dongsha Islands in eastern my country.
In later generations, wild grouper can no longer be found in the market; they are all farmed because they have become protected animals and capturing them is strictly prohibited.
However, at this time, wild grouper are not yet protected animals and can be bought and sold on the market.
The first Animal Protection Law was just implemented last year. Not to mention that the Eastern Star Spotted Grouper is not a protected animal, even when information is not readily available, not many people know about protected animals.
Eat what you should eat, and sell what you should sell.
The enforcement isn't strict now; at most, they'll fine you and give you a warning. It's not like in later generations where you could easily end up in jail.
(About 10 years ago, all kinds of snakes were still openly bought and sold in my hometown. The dealers bought them in the vegetable market without any attempt to hide them.)
"As long as it's fresh, we can eat it ourselves if we can't sell it."
"No one in my family has ever had grouper before, so we're in for a treat. I'll steam it when we get home and everyone can try it."
As Feng Xuan spoke, he put it into a snakeskin bag.
After walking around and stopping frequently, and collecting several shellfish, another surprise came.
Two long tentacles emerged from a crevice beneath a large rock.
"Is this a lobster?"
Feng Ye's face lit up with joy. He was about to reach out and grab a pair of tentacles to pull it out when, unexpectedly, it sensed the danger and shrank back inside.
The rock was too big; even with Feng Xuan, let alone one person, they couldn't move it. He could only squat down and reach in to feel it.
I searched around in the gap for ages, but couldn't find anything.
He got up and walked around the stone, only to find that the crack in the stone was through, and there was also an opening on the other side.
Keep touching it!
I hadn't gone far with my hand when I touched the hard carapace.
Feng Ye was overjoyed.
Good grief, I've finally caught you.
I grabbed it tightly, but it slipped away again.
He could only go around to the same side as before and reach in again.
This unknown lobster seemed to be playing hide-and-seek with him; he tried to catch it several times, but couldn't manage to get it.
"Ah Ye, what are you touching that rock as you walk around it?"
I had just picked up a large sea cucumber when I saw my younger brother still touching things under the rocks, and I finally couldn't resist my curiosity.
As Feng Ye crouched down and reached under the rock, he said, "Brother, I found a lobster under this rock, but I didn't catch any."
"Lobster? I'll help you."
After Feng Xuan finished speaking, he walked to the other side and reached his hand under the stone.
"I touched it, damn, it's huge. Damn, it ran away again."
On the other side, Feng Ye said happily, "I've got him under control."
Feng Xuan asked curiously, "Let's see how big it is."
"You little brat, you still got caught."
Feng Ye slowly pulled his hand out from the gap, holding the cunning lobster in his palm.
"Chinese Splendor? And it's so big, Ah Ye, you're really lucky."
Looking at the lobster in Feng Ye's hand, Feng Xuan looked on with envy.
The lobster in Feng Ye's hand is brightly colored, with a pair of antennae longer than its body. It is quite heavy and weighs about four pounds.
It was a Chinese spiny lobster.
In ancient times, this was known as the "divine shrimp".
The Taiping County Annals contain the following description:
In the first year of the Tiansheng era of the Song Dynasty (1023, the reign title of Emperor Renzong of Song, Zhao Zhen), a fisherman caught a shrimp in the sea. It was over three feet long, with two front pincers about two inches long and a red whisker over a foot long at the end. Its head was the size of a large vessel, and it looked like a painting. It had two eyes, twelve legs, and markings like a tiger or leopard. It was mostly multicolored, but its robust and unusual appearance was particularly striking. The imperial envoy Wu Zhonghua painted its image and presented it to the emperor, who named it the Divine Shrimp.
A few years before Feng Ye's rebirth, the Chinese spiny lobster was also listed as a protected wild animal and disappeared from people's dining tables.
Of course, most people can't afford it, or rather, they're unwilling to spend the money on it.
"It weighs about four pounds, which is very good."
Feng Ye happily put the lobster into the snakeskin bag.
"Keep going, keep going."
The two then began to wander around the rocky area.
While the quantity of seafood in the rocky area is not as large as that on the beach, the quality is much better.
The most abundant creatures on the beach are actually shellfish. Even if fish, shrimp, and crabs are swept onto the beach, they can usually return to the sea quickly if they are not discovered in time, except for the particularly unlucky ones.
The situation is different in the rocky area, where there are rocks of all sizes everywhere, which can block the way for seafood to return to the sea and force it to stay in the rocky area.
Two hours later, their snakeskin bags were almost full. They glanced at the sky, which was much darker than when they arrived, and it looked like it was going to rain again.
Feng Ye then said, "Brother, it's almost noon, and the burlap sack is almost full. Let's go back."
"The tide hasn't come in yet, let's look a little longer."
Feng Xuan was quite reluctant to part.
Feng Ye said with a smile, "What, aren't you satisfied after picking up so much stuff?"
“A little,” Feng Xu laughed. “Today was so easy. I’ve gained so much in less than a morning. I should have called my parents along.”
"I didn't expect there to be so much goods. If I had known earlier, I would have brought a few more burlap sacks so I could easily sort them."
Feng Ye sighed.
He knew that strong winds and waves would bring seafood ashore, but he didn't expect there to be so much.
In less than three hours, he had already gained a lot.
There were ten mud crabs of various sizes, three sea bass (one large and two small), one Chinese spiny lobster, two conch shells, two blue crabs, three swimming crabs, and even more stone crabs. There were also other creatures such as black sea bream, prawns, mantis shrimp, sea cucumbers, and rock goby in varying quantities.
Of course, the most numerous are shellfish, including scallops, sand clams, blood clams, oyster snails, and moon clams...
Feng Xuan's haul wasn't much worse than Feng Ye's. Although he didn't find the large bass or the Chinese spiny lobster, he did find three of the wavy lobsters that Feng Ye missed.
"Let's go back. I'm a little hungry, and it looks like it's going to rain again."
"Okay, let's go back first and come back to check when the tide goes out this afternoon."
Feng Xuan said, still wanting more.
Feng Ye chuckled and said, "Let's talk about it this afternoon."
The two brothers each hoisted their two snakeskin bags onto their shoulders, beaming with smiles as they headed home.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com