Chapter 254: Chinese ornate lobster and East Sea red shrimp

The domestic sea area can catch not many lobster types, mainly three: Chinese lobster, ripple lobster, and Chinese ornate lobster; there are also Japanese lobster and mixed-color lobster.

By color, Chinese lobster is dark red or brownish red, without prominent stripes; ripple lobster is bluish green with white ripple stripes; Chinese ornate lobster is multicolored and variegated, obvious at a glance.

By size, Chinese lobster is medium, length about 40-50 cm, weight 1-2 kg; ripple lobster is the smallest, 25-30 cm, usually less than one catty; Chinese ornate lobster is relatively larger, ranging from 60 cm to 1 m, with the biggest exceeding 10 kg.

Their prices correspond to their size: ripple lobster is cheapest, Chinese lobster next, Chinese ornate lobster most expensive, often costing over a thousand per catty.

However, wild Chinese ornate lobster is relatively rare; what we usually call the small blue dragon is the ripple lobster.

Ye Cheng crept up quietly, grabbed the lobster from behind in one swift motion; the creature was startled, its legs flailing everywhere, but it could not possibly escape.

Ye Cheng lifted it up to look; it was a ripple lobster, the same small blue dragon he often caught before, about 20 cm long.

Not bad; Ye Cheng simply put it into the net bag and continued swimming forward.

This area is full of such coral clusters and reef groups, with many marine creatures hiding inside, serving both as hunters and as prey for others.

Not long after, Ye Cheng spotted a second lobster hiding under a rock; seeing light approach, it retreated back and shrank its body into the hole.

This lobster's color is more vivid, and its size is larger than the previous ripple lobster; it might be a Chinese ornate lobster, and Ye Cheng felt delighted, finally encountering a valuable catch.

He cautiously reached out, but unexpectedly the creature retreated even deeper, and his hand couldn't reach it.

Ye Cheng had to switch to a pair of tongs, reaching in to try to clamp it out.

However, the creature was a bit large; after half a day of trying, the tongs couldn't hold it.

Damn it, Ye Cheng looked at the cave mouth feeling helpless; if he couldn't lure it out, there seemed to be no way.

Left with no choice, Ye Cheng swam around the rock to see if there was another way.

Just as he turned behind the rock, Ye Cheng saw a multicolored butt—a shrimp's butt.

Damn, I was wondering why this hole is so deep; turns out it's broken through.

The lobster probably thought it had escaped capture, when suddenly it felt a grip from behind, its waist pinched and pulled back, and its whole body was dragged out.

Only when held in hand could one truly feel how big it is—50 cm in length, even gripping it with one hand takes some effort.

This shrimp displays all kinds of colors; it truly is a Chinese ornate lobster. Judging by its size, it weighs several catties, and tonight we've made a big profit.

With such a big catch, Ye Cheng put it in the net bag and swam straight up, feeling uneasy underwater.

Xiao Hu lay bored on the boat alone, when Ye Cheng burst from the sea bottom with a "splash," startling Xiao Hu.

"Brother, you came up so fast? That's not your style."

"That's right; my style is to last long, but this thing is a bit pricey, so I brought it up first." Ye Cheng lifted the net bag and had Xiao Hu pull it up.

Xiao Hu gave a light pull and it came up; glancing at it, he said, "So little, just two?"

"Look closely, this is a Chinese ornate lobster, high-grade—have you ever seen one?"

Xiao Hu examined it carefully in the moonlight; indeed, the large lobster's color is so vivid, he had truly never seen one before.

"Brother, you said this shrimp could sell for several hundred per catty, right?" Xiao Hu opened the boat's water tank and gently placed the two lobsters inside.

"I don't know if it's several hundred; hand me the net, I'll go down again to check—today I seem to have stumbled into a lobster den."

Ye Cheng secured the net bag's end and dove down again, swimming back to where he had just caught the big lobster.

This reef area is plentiful; after swimming a bit, he saw something on the sea bottom move, stirring up a cloud of sand—looks like another big catch.

Ye Cheng shone his light along the direction of the sand and indeed found a lobster, still an ornate lobster; this one is larger, 70 cm long.

It nervously shrank its body, not understanding how, having clearly darted away, light could still shine on it.

This lobster is highly alert; as Ye Cheng swam forward, it pushed backward, almost like doing a tango.

Left with no option, Ye Cheng switched to a net, slowly approaching from behind; the creature seemed to sense something, flicked its body, and shot straight into the net, where Ye Cheng scooped it up in one motion.

Thus, with still a small half of its body exposed outside, it was indeed quite large.

Ye Cheng had intended to bring it up, but the water got churned up here, instantly startling something else; he caught a glimpse of a fast-moving thing darting into the sand.

Although its body had gone in, its whiskers remained outside, along with two tiny eyes.

Ye Cheng pressed it from behind, holding it firmly down on the ground.

Picking it up, he saw it was another ornate lobster, just a bit smaller, about the same size as the first one.

Two now; Ye Cheng went back again, and this time even Xiao Hu couldn't stay calm: "Brother, there really is a lobster den."

"Probably; I'll go down and have a look." Ye Cheng said excitedly.

As he spoke, Ye Cheng dove again; this time his luck was still good, and in over half an hour he caught another ornate lobster and two ripple lobsters, though he didn't see any ornate lobster—this left him a bit disappointed.

Ye Cheng had searched this reef area thoroughly, yet finally found no trace of lobster—either they were gone or they had hidden.

This haul wasn't bad either; Ye Cheng simply swam up.

This time he caught a total of seven lobsters: three ripple lobsters and four ornate lobsters; the quantity isn't large, but the quality is absolutely top-notch.

The diving business here is about done; Ye Cheng had Xiao Hu steer the boat to yesterday's fish‑trop location, where the traps set yesterday were due to be collected.

When setting the traps yesterday, they deliberately left a buoy; all that's needed is to drive the boat to the buoy and pull, so Ye Cheng doesn't need to dive again.

In the darkness, since the two were fairly familiar with this sea area, otherwise they wouldn't be sure to find the buoy; they also cruised around a bit before locating it.

All six floats were present; the two drove to the first float's spot, gave a tug, felt weight—something was still there.

They got into position and began pulling upward; the load kept getting heavier, indicating a substantial catch.

When they were halfway up, they finally saw what it was: shrimp, lots of shrimp, lively and jumping.

Already out of the water, they sped up and hauled the trap aboard; it was about half full, which was quite good.