Chapter 236

The reef stones here are somewhat yellowish, that kind of slab-like rock; Ye Cheng couldn't even say what type it was, as long as there's a pit, that's fine.

The three stood at the highest point and looked around; they needed to find a somewhat larger pit, since small pits usually don't yield much.

"Brother, can we use that?" Xiao Hu pointed at the puddle at his feet and said.

Ye Cheng glanced at it and immediately shook his head: "This pit is way too big; the three of us couldn't finish digging it even if we worked ourselves to death."

This side underfoot isn't a single puddle but a stretch; who could possibly drain all that water?

"No, A Cheng, it's many small pits joined together; that's good, it's easy to find big catches—we just scoop them out one by one; they're definitely separated underneath."

Unexpectedly, Ye Guowei also agreed; since two people were in favor, let's get to work.

First, the three found a puddle with good drainage, then jumped down and started bailing water out with buckets.

With three strong workers, the drainage wasn't slow at all; the water level dropped quickly, and after about half an hour, several puddles became isolated, just as Ye Guowei had thought.

"I can't go on; I need a rest." Ye Cheng was the first to give out.

Ye Guowei and Xiao Hu gave Ye Cheng a look, too lazy to speak—weakness is weakness.

Seeing those two beasts not resting, Ye Cheng lit a cigarette, then jumped down again; after ten or so minutes, the water level in the puddle had reached calf height.

That's about enough; if we keep going, we'd have to bend over too much each time, wasting energy.

The three fashioned a net and began scooping in the water; actually, the net isn't very useful, since most of the work still relies on feeling.

These fish, shrimp, and crabs are quite clever; they all hide in the rock crevices.

The reef stones here are layered, with more crevices; Ye Cheng casually reached in and found a deep fissure—there's bound to be something good inside.

He put on his gloves, reached in, and before he could feel how deep it was, he touched a soft, long object.

Ye Cheng grabbed it firmly and pulled outward; the thing struggled hard, but couldn't resist Ye Cheng's strength, and he yanked it out of the water in one go.

With a splash, the long thing gave a hard wriggle, trying to jump back into the water, but Ye Cheng caught it with his net in one motion, and it fell into the net.

"What is this, so long?" Ye Guowei came over; he had just felt a Stone Nine Elder, not big, but Ye Cheng's find is about half a meter long.

Ye Cheng lifted the net to look: a small shark, light yellow-brown, with brownish bands across its body and many dark brown spots.

While in the net, its color was darker, but once taken out it became pale—this is a spotted bamboo shark, whose body color changes with the surroundings, thus the "chameleon of the shark family".

"Brother, a cat shark, half a meter long—not bad." Ye Cheng replied.

The spotted bamboo shark belongs to the cat shark family; although it looks somewhat like a dog shark, cat sharks and dog sharks are not the same species.

Of course, since the prices are similar, for fishermen there's no real difference—they all sell for the same price.

This cat shark could sell for a little over a hundred per catty, which counts as high-grade.

After setting aside the cat shark, Ye Cheng continued feeling in the rock crevices; there was still plenty of water, and frankly, it was still somewhat difficult to feel.

Ye Cheng was just praying he wouldn't touch a crab; that thing, he's still a bit afraid of.

Sure enough, what he feared came—a hard object pressed against his fingertip.

"Xiao Hu!" Ye Cheng shouted, raising his head and raising his voice.

Xiao Hu glanced, pursed his lips, immediately understood, and walked over helplessly; he reached down, and Ye Cheng's hand came out holding a half-catty butter crab, its joints oozing oil.

"Not bad, kid, your luck's good—come on, put it in." Ye Cheng cheerfully took over the bucket.

"Brother, we've been out gathering seafood for how long—can't you get over this habit? I'm not saying this just to nag you, but saying it out loud would be embarrassing."

"Get lost, just you being smug."

After chasing Xiao Hu away, Ye Guowei's side also snagged a big catch—a tiger grouper.

The tiger grouper, also known as brown-spotted grouper or dusky-spotted grouper, is a high-value marine fish belonging to the Epinephelus genus of the Serranidae family.

Named for the dark brown spots resembling tiger stripes covering its body, it is an important farmed and edible fish in Southeast Asia and China's coastal regions.

This tiger grouper is under half a meter long, slender in shape, probably about one and a half catties.

The three felt around in the pit for half a day and also found several octopuses the size of a fist—this stuff really is everywhere.

Plus four or five blue crabs and a dozen or so Stone Nine Elders; there's surely more, but we really don't feel like feeling any further.

The three moved to the middle puddle; although it's in the middle, it's actually the shallowest, and they spent half an hour just about draining it.

Naturally, shallow water won't yield big catches; they felt a few blue crabs and a small blue dragon, and that's about it.

The last pit was the deepest; the three were already tired, but they rested a while during the drainage before getting the water down to calf level.

As soon as they went in, the water churned; a large fish shot past Ye Cheng's foot, and without thinking he thrust his net down and scooped it up directly.

A wholly black fish landed in the net; Ye Cheng initially thought it was a black seabream, but on closer look—holy cow, it was actually a blackfin.

The blackfin, scientific name Schedophilus maculatus, commonly called blackfin, also known as melon seed or black melon seed, is a high-value marine fish with tender flesh and delicious flavor, beloved by sea anglers and seafood markets.

The blackfin's body is oval, its color purplish black, with many small black spots on the lateral scales, and numerous dark spots scattered at the bases of the fins; besides these, there are no other prominent markings.

The blackfin is also famous for its strong pull when hooked; anglers say, "Once a blackfin bites, shore fishing brings endless joy," to describe that powerful tug.

Actually, in appearance the blackfin resembles the black seabream somewhat, which is also why Ye Cheng misidentified it just now.

The blackfin is deep gray-black, with a small mouth, slightly flattened sides, and a forked tail fin; whereas the black seabream has a black-silver body with metallic sheen, a thick blunt mouth, and prominent hard spines on the dorsal fin.

Of course, there is also a difference between them: the price.

Black seabream is cheap, blackfin expensive; generally blackfin can sell for two to three hundred 【per catty】 on the market.

Ye Cheng caught this blackfin under 40 centimeters, about two catties, roughly the same price as that large cat shark.

Seeing Ye Cheng actually snag a blackfin, Ye Guowei and Xiao Hu got a bit excited, stirring the water with their feet to try to startle the fish out.

And sure enough, two more darted out, which Ye Guowei swept up in one go.

After securing those three blackfins, Ye Cheng reached down again and pulled a sea eel from a rock crevice—not big, about fifty centimeters.