Chapter 1011

Humpback whales are among the most beautiful and friendly whales on Earth. Although they are not the largest whale species in the world, they are undisputed giants of the ocean. They mostly travel in pairs and have a gentle temperament.

Ye Yaodong gave them a brief popular science lesson, and after confirming it was a humpback whale, he also left the wheelhouse and came out onto the deck.

He just felt that the current ocean environment was truly excellent; even humpback whales could be seen at will, without having been over-hunted.

That massive body, swimming beside the fishing boat, was only slightly smaller than the boat itself. He estimated it to be over ten meters long, with most of its body submerged underwater. If he had been further away, he might have mistaken it for a moving small island.

This humpback whale also maintained a slow swimming pace, as if playing, staying right beside the fishing boat and moving in the same direction.

There are knob-like protrusions on the tip of its snout and on both sides of its baleen, and its dorsal fin is black, relatively small, and patterned.

On its exposed skin, there were many barnacles and goose barnacles attached, and it was also carrying many fish with suckers, such as remoras.

From the side of the boat, he could only see the silhouettes of a few remoras beneath the water. It carried its burden forward while appearing incredibly agile; the debris on its body did not affect its progress at all.

Ye Fu asked him nervously, "What did you just say this whale was called? Do we really not need to dodge it? Every time we've seen such big fish, you've said we don't need to dodge. Will these big fish really not attack people? The older generation, upon seeing such big fish, would dodge as quickly as possible, staying far away for fear of being chased by them."

The older generation only knew how to categorize them into broad groups like whales and sharks. If they really had to distinguish the specific species, they wouldn't know how; at most, they would know some common varieties and some local colloquial names.

"A humpback whale. It's fine. In the future, it will be hard for you to see one at such close range, so cherish it while you can."

After saying this, he turned and hurried back to the cabin. Ignoring the panicked discussions of the other crew members, he went to retrieve his camera from the lockbox.

The crew on the deck were still saying, "Shouldn't we get further away to be safer? Who knows if such a big fish might suddenly go crazy."

"Yeah, this fish is an animal too. It's so huge, it looks scary just to look at. Its whole body looks just like a boat, only a little smaller than ours."

"We should start the boat and get further away..."

Ye Yaodong took out his camera, ignoring their chatter. While the humpback whale hadn't left yet, he quickly snapped a few photos—the more the better, so he would have options if some were overexposed.

Just as he was about to put the camera away, another one emerged beside the humpback whale. It turned on its side, raised one of its pectoral fins, and as it broke the surface, it sprayed a column of water into the air. The water column was several meters high, looking like flowers scattered by a celestial maiden.

When the water column fell, it sprayed in all directions, landing right on everyone's faces. Everyone immediately backed away and covered their ears.

"It sprayed water again! Another one came up and sprayed water!"

"It really sprayed water again..."

"This fish has so much water..."

"Yeah, so much water, and it's so high..."

"And there's a sound..."

When a humpback whale surfaces to breathe, it expels a short, thick, and hot mixture of oil and water vapor from its blowhole, which also carries the surrounding seawater out of the sea, forming a spectacular water column while emitting a loud sound similar to a steam engine.

He actually managed to capture this moment. Last time, during the trial run before the New Year, the group of whales sprayed water collectively, but because he didn't have his camera, he didn't get to photograph it, which he regretted for a long time.

That kind of scene is rare and hard to come by; it's hard to see it even once in a lifetime. Today's event slightly made up for it.

Click, click, click—he snapped several photos in a row, then quickly tucked the camera into his chest, wrapping it in his cotton-padded jacket. Some water spray had splashed onto it, so after the spray settled, he lifted the hem of his sweater to wipe it off.

Ye Fu smacked his lips, "With such big fish, do they all like to travel together? Everything we see is in groups."

"Now we have something to brag about when we go back..."

"Yeah, the time we saw a group of whales spraying water before the New Year, when we went back and told everyone, they were all stunned, saying they had never seen or even heard of such a thing."

"And today we even saw whales that were even bigger."

"No, the sailfish and swordfish we saw before were single, acting alone."

"We've seen enough, let's start the boat and leave, get further away."

Although these two super-sized whales looked well-behaved, everyone still felt it wasn't safe and felt a sense of awe.

"Right, let's go. Better safe than sorry; safety first."

Ye Fu was also in complete agreement. Such a big creature was too unpredictable, and they didn't understand the habits of these whales. They were moving forward peacefully and friendly now, but who knows about later? It's better not to take risks if you don't have to.

"I'll go start the boat, let's get further away from them."

Just as Ye Fu turned to walk toward the wheelhouse, the two humpback whales affectionately rubbed their heads against each other, snuggled for a moment, and then separated.

Ye Yaodong watched with curiosity. These mammals were quite affectionate. He had heard that humpback whales have high intelligence, equivalent to that of a 2-5 year old human child.

However, they still couldn't compare to the intelligence of another ocean overlord, the orca, which is said to have the intelligence of a 15 or 16-year-old child.

This creature is said to be the "street hoodlum" of the ocean, often "teasing cats and dogs" in the sea, and even getting close to human boats; they are very playful and cute.

However, its natural enemy is the humpback whale.

As long as a humpback whale hears even the slightest sound of an orca, no matter how far away it is, it will rush over and give it a slap. During the orca's hunt, it will even rescue the prey and drive the orca away, leaving it hungry. The general public calls it the "ocean police."

Some netizens jokingly call its daily routine "eating, sleeping, and beating orcas."

The pectoral fins and tail of a humpback whale are covered with a large number of barnacles, which they use as weapons, so you shouldn't just scrape the barnacles off a humpback whale.

However, looking at it today, it doesn't seem like there are any orcas around; it seems like there are only humpback whales.

There was a tiny bit of regret. He had his camera in his hand; if he had encountered one, he would definitely have been able to capture the famous scene of a humpback whale slapping an orca. If it appeared decades early, it might even provide some material for future ocean development.

Seeing his father about to start the boat to avoid these two big guys, he didn't object. After all, he had seen them up close and taken photos.

These two big guys probably wouldn't follow the boat forever; at most, they would follow for a bit and then leave.

And sure enough, just as he expected, as soon as the fishing boat accelerated a little and changed direction, the two of them moved quickly.

They swam quickly underwater for a distance, then suddenly broke through the water, rising slowly and vertically. Until their pectoral fins reached the surface, their bodies began to bend backward slowly, like a gymnast's backflip.

Until the entire body fell backward onto the water surface.

Ye Yaodong still saw it clearly from a distance. After all, they were massive and easy to identify. This made him slap his thigh in regret that he didn't have a mobile phone or a drone.

Seeing that the two whales had flipped and swam away on their own, Ye Fu didn't accelerate or change direction, continuing along the original route to work in the surrounding area.

"They left? It's good that they left."

"It's better to encounter fewer of these big guys. Anyway, we can't catch them, and just watching them there makes one feel anxious."

"Didn't Adong say this thing is friendly to humans? Just now it seemed like they were just swimming on their own and ignoring us. If we occasionally encounter something like this, seeing it once or twice is also fine."

"Haha, are you thinking about bragging in the village again?"

"Hehe, there are so many strange things at sea. If we occasionally encounter them, talking about it when we go back to the village is a topic of conversation, and it can also let the villagers broaden their horizons. They all stay in the village and rely on us who have been to far places to tell them about novel things."

The crew members relaxed after seeing the fish swim away and started bragging and talking loudly on the boat.

There were still some goods on the deck that hadn't been sorted, so they sorted them while talking. Everyone was wide awake, and no one went back to the cabin to lie down. Now that the fish had just left, everyone's interest in talking was very high.

Moreover, it was almost time for lunch. There was still a lot left from the big pot of seafood steamed in the morning. Everyone was eating and throwing away, so there was no such thing as cherishing it, but even so, there was still half a pot left. At noon, they just needed to add a vegetable dish.

Just as everyone finished sorting the remaining goods on the deck and was about to come over for lunch, two things like small islands protruded from the sea surface in front of the fishing boat, and they kept moving.

As the fishing boat moved forward and closed the distance, the "small islands" tossed and turned, with waves splashing all around.

Ye Yaodong, holding his rice bowl, saw it at the first moment. He pointed forward with his chopsticks, spraying rice from his mouth as he shouted to everyone, "Look, look... over there... there's a situation over there."

"Is it some big fish hunting there?"

"Looks like it, the water is constantly churning..."

"Why do I feel like it's the two whales we saw before?"

Ye Fu was probably also puzzled and wanted to see what kind of fish it was up close. Anyway, the fishing boat was moving forward, so he didn't deliberately intervene.

After getting closer, everyone realized that it really was the two humpback whales from just now. They hadn't gone far, but had been caught up by them.

The direction they were sailing now was also toward the East China Sea, and they had only been out for one night and half a day.

After Ye Yaodong reacted, he immediately ran to the cabin to get his camera. After the fish ran away just now, he had also returned to the cabin and thrown the camera on the bed. He didn't know what fish the humpback whales were fighting and hunting, but he kept the camera in his hand just in case.

And after he got the camera, he also sent someone to tell his father not to run away, to keep a certain distance, not too far, but not too close, to avoid being affected.

When these ocean overlords fight, they probably just entangle with each other, slap their tail fins and pectoral fins, and bite each other a few times.

Let's see if we can take a picture of the scene later. It's just a pity that the photos will be black and white, and if it's not close enough, it will probably be very blurry.

However, the humpback whale photographed earlier was right beside the fishing boat, and that shot was incredibly clear, with the massive creature right there.

"That looks like a few big fish fighting!"

"To be able to fight with those two whales, how big must that fish be? It shouldn't be much smaller, right?"

"Shouldn't we get further away? Will it hit our boat? That fish is so big, only a little smaller than the boat, it looks like it's over ten meters long. Not to mention the tail hitting the boat, even if it's just on the side, if that body slams into the sea, the boat will shake."

Ye Yaodong was just about to speak when he saw a fish jump up from the sea surface. A black and white orca leaped directly out of the water and instantly slammed back into the water.

"Holy crap, there really is an orca. I was just thinking about it, just missing an ocean street hoodlum orca, and here it is?"

He was extremely excited, holding the camera in his hand, waiting for the moment they got closer, or for the orca to jump out of the water, to capture it again. He might really get to photograph the famous scene of a humpback whale slapping an orca.

It is said that the hunting conflict between humpback whales and orcas is not accidental, but happens frequently. The "ocean police" specialize in beating "ocean street hoodlums."

Only 11% of conflicts involve orcas hunting humpback whales; most of the rest occur when orcas are hunting other animals. Humpback whales not only go to the orca's "crime scene," but also use their calls to summon companions to help.

Orcas usually choose to retreat because adult humpback whales are very strong fighters.

It's not that orcas are completely unable to fight humpback whales; large orca groups sometimes attack adult humpback whales, pinning them below the sea surface.

The reason why the two giants are mortal enemies is said to be because orcas often prey on humpback whale calves.

This hatred may lead some humpback whales to have strong hostility toward orcas deep in their hearts. Adult humpback whales will intervene and interfere with orca hunting activities, and whenever they encounter them, they never let them go.

That's why there is a joke that humpback whales spend their days eating, sleeping, and beating orcas.

"What ocean street hoodlum?"

"Adong knows that fish?"

"That's an orca. Humpback whales specialize in beating orcas. When the two races meet, they fight."

"Oh, is that so? You know so much, even your father doesn't know as much as you."

"Right, that's why it's called the waves of the Qianjiang River pushing the waves ahead."

"It's the Yangtze River, right?"

Ye Yaodong was stunned for a moment, "Yangtze River? It's the Yangtze River, not the Qianjiang River?"

"What is the Qianjiang River?"

"Oh, then I remembered wrong. My cultural level is still not good enough. I'll have to read more books and newspapers tomorrow."

"Hehe, it's enough if you can write your own name. It doesn't matter if you can't write it. Anyway, it's not used. It's the same if you just know how to press your fingerprint."

"That's easy to get cheated."

He held the camera and kept preparing, watching them fighting back and forth in the sea, splashing white foam one after another. He didn't see them fully exposed on the sea surface, and his hand holding it became sore.

"Ah, a school of fish, a school of fish swam by..."

"A school of fish..."

"It passed, it passed... it's a red fish..."

"The school of fish passed? Hurry up and turn around, you guys hurry up and tell my father to turn around, change direction, and the rest of you go get the cast nets ready. Let's see if we can encounter them again if we turn around."

He also saw the faint red fish shadows under the water. Red fish are generally not very cheap.

This school of fish must have been driven by the orcas, preparing for a full meal, but they happened to encounter the humpback whales that came after hearing the news, which directly rescued the school of fish.

Whenever a humpback whale hears the sound of an orca, no matter how far away it is, it will rush over to beat it up.

So they happened to encounter it because they were right on the side.

This school of fish is not big, but it shouldn't be small either. After all, this big guy can eat enough for a month in one bite. But unfortunately, the boat and the school of fish were moving in opposite directions, so they missed each other instantly. When he took the camera down and looked at the sea, he only saw the tail of the school of fish.

After Ye Fu received their message, he hurriedly turned the boat around slowly, accelerated slightly from the direction behind, and chased after them.

It's just that he didn't know if the direction the school of fish swam was the same as the direction he turned the boat. Anyway, he had to try his luck, as they were going to work at sea anyway.

Seeing that they were getting further and further away from the two fighting fish, Ye Yaodong gave up taking pictures with the camera. Let's see if we can catch some goods by casting a few nets.

Several crew members held two cast nets and looked at the sea. There was no sign of fish goods anymore. They could only try to cast two nets casually to see. Now technology is not so developed, and their fishing boat is still very simple, without underwater detectors installed.

"Anyway, tell my father that we will work in this area today. We will collect the nets in an hour to see if we can catch more."

"Okay, let's cast two nets first to see. I don't know if they have sunk to the bottom of the water, or swam to other places."

Ye Yaodong didn't have much hope. He just hoped that when the fishing nets were dragged up later, it would be good to have more goods. He still stood on the deck, holding the camera in his hand, looking into the distance.

"There are goods! There are goods!" A crew member was collecting the net and shouted excitedly.

"I'll come to help..."

"My side seems to have nothing..."

People on both sides said their own things. They were standing on both sides of the boat, each casting a net to try their luck.

Ye Yaodong also shifted his attention to the side that shouted there were goods, "Pull it up and see what's there?"

"Hehe, let us see what good things such big fish eat. With that size, I don't know how much seafood it will ruin in one bite. Give it all to us, then we can earn more money."

"Stop talking nonsense, hurry up and pull it up first..."

"Okay..."

The crew member spat twice in his palm, changed hands, and continued to pull the fishing net.

"The first net is gold, the second net is silver, the third net hits a cornucopia, the fourth net hits a copper gong group, the fifth net pulls a full load of clams, the sixth net is full of shrimp and crabs, every net is not empty~"

With the shouting of the crew, a red net of fish goods emerged from the water.

"Yo ho~ red fish, good goods!"

"Hurry up, you collected the empty net, right? Continue to cast it down and see if you can catch more goods!"

"Okay, okay..."

"Come, come, use some strength, this one is a bit heavy, and there is a lot of water..."

Ye Yaodong also watched carefully from the side. It was a tilefish, which was okay. It just depends on how many jin can be pulled up.

Just at this time, a panda-colored orca sped across the sea, its black dorsal fin standing on the sea surface.

However, for some reason, it paused for a moment and was directly caught up by the two humpback whales behind it. After catching up, it slammed its pectoral fin toward the orca, almost slapping the person silly.

Ye Yaodong instantly became energetic again, his spirit lifted, and he continued to raise his camera, preparing to aim at the three big guys who were fighting again.

It just so happened that they were moving while fighting, and the fishing boat was also sailing.

When the crew collected a net of red fish goods and poured them onto the deck, he also happened to capture the leaping orca.

When it was about to fall into the water, a humpback whale rushed to its front in advance, and then jumped up to slap its head with its fish tail, hitting it right on target.

Ye Yaodong was also pleasantly surprised and immediately clicked, clicking, clicking, hurriedly capturing several shots.

The two fish were just in mid-air in intimate contact, and he finally waited for the famous scene of the "ocean police" fighting the "ocean street hoodlum."

The orca was slapped and directly dizzy, tilting to the side toward the sea surface. Unlike the agile posture of just leaping, it looked a bit embarrassed and fell.

However, it can also bend and stretch. One enemy cannot defeat two. After being beaten, it quickly dived to the bottom of the water and slipped away.

With its huge size, if it wants to leave, the two humpback whales cannot keep it.

Seeing the orca run away again, the two humpback whales also dived to the bottom of the water. Anyway, they have no other work besides eating and sleeping, that is, beating orcas. If they encounter them, they will not let them go.

When diving downward, they exposed huge tail fins, and then gradually became smaller and smaller, until all the tails disappeared on the sea surface, and the sea surface calmed down.

The crew members were happy with a net of red harvest and didn't care about the two big fighting fish. Anyway, it had nothing to do with them. And after they cast a net, they immediately cast the next net to the sea surface, preparing to try again.

At this time, there were about 200 jin of seafood scattered on the deck. Tilefish accounted for the most, and there were also dozens of jin of miscellaneous fish scattered, large and small, and some scattered shrimp.

This net cast to try luck was quite good. The second net cast and collected was not so lucky. There were only a hundred jin. Probably the school of fish had scattered and left.

The third net collected had no goods, only small fish and shrimp.

However, everyone was quite satisfied. It was equivalent to picking up 300 jin of goods for nothing, and most of them were good.

Seeing that the two big fish had disappeared and the sea surface had returned to calm, Ye Fu changed direction again and ran to the deck.

"Those two fish are really gone this time, right? Appearing for a while, appearing for a while, I don't know where to drive."

"They should be gone, right? Didn't you change direction again?"

"The goods collected in these two nets are quite good."

Ye Yaodong also held the camera and smiled, "It's okay, these whales not only provided emotional value, but also sent some sweetness. Wait a while and collect the fishing nets, see if there are many goods, it should be more than the first two or three nets. After all, orcas drove the school of fish, and drove them here."

Ye Fu was also happy, "That shows that the appearance of these whales also has some benefits, and can make more goods. The net of goods cast at night, really can't look at it, all are miscellaneous fish and cheap goods."

"At that time at night, we just came out, the water level was deep enough to cast the net. Just that circle near the sea, certainly not more goods than a little further toward the East China Sea. The deeper the water level, the more and better deep-sea goods must be. It's just that we can't run too far."

"It's okay, as long as there are goods. First, sort these fish, I'm going to the wheelhouse, collect the net in half an hour."

"Okay."

Ye Yaodong also took his camera back to the cabin. There shouldn't be much film left inside. After this trip docks, he still has to go buy film, and by the way, look at the binoculars.

He didn't put it in the suitcase, just put it on the bed and covered it with a quilt, so as not to put it in the suitcase, in case there is any novel thing later, taking the camera again is too delayed.

The crew on the deck were still discussing there, "Just cast a net casually, and there are one or two hundred jin, two hundred jin of goods. There must be at least a few thousand jin under the sea, plus the escaped ones, there must be ten thousand jin. How big is the fish's mouth? How much to eat at one time?"

"The super big fish that was stranded in the village last year, didn't they say it was a vegetarian? Will this be just playing?"

"Cut~ fish and fish are different, just like people and people are different, and it's not that they are too full."

Ye Yaodong also squatted down, "These tilefish should also be about 200 jin, plus miscellaneous goods to sort out, can also sell for forty or fifty yuan."

It's okay, it's worth the value of the ordinary half-net goods they drag.

It's just luck, just cast a few nets casually.

"Good luck, our boat is just lucky, Mazu blesses."

"After sorting, eat first. After eating, it's time to collect the net. After the next net is collected, sort it together. Anyway, the ones at the bottom are all poured back into the sea."

"Okay, okay."

They moved back and forth on the sea, circling, constantly changing direction, which had no effect on the Fengshou, still staying far away, only seeing a small point on the sea surface.

Probably the Fengshou didn't know that they had just encountered three big fish fighting.

From a distance, I don't know if anything novel happened there?

He seized the time to finish eating, and then went to the wheelhouse to replace his father, and also let his father go to eat a bite first.

Ye Fu was happy, "I just connected with the in-laws and told him that we just encountered three fish almost as big as our boat, which surprised him. He said he also encountered a fish half the size of the Fengshou."

"However, it is said that the fish was slapping sea turtles there. The sea turtle was originally lying on the sea surface sleeping, which is really novel."

"He also described the appearance of the fish, which is the same as the orca we just saw. I don't know if it's the same one."

Orcas are really annoying, teasing cats and dogs.

"It should be, the distance between the two boats is not far, for that fish, it should be just a short distance."

"Well, then you held the camera just now, did you take several pictures of the fish?"

"Right."

"Waste of money, don't take pictures next time, that film is so expensive, buy a camera specifically to take pictures of fish? How extravagant, people don't take pictures, take pictures of fish? If you say it out, you will be scolded to death."

Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes, "My camera, I am willing, who cares about me? Isn't the camera bought to be used?"

"Then taking pictures of people is always better than taking pictures of fish..."

"Don't argue, hurry up and eat your food, still nagging here, didn't spend your money, you still feel distressed."

"Of course I feel distressed..."

"Go, go, go, I'll drive the boat... don't argue..."