Chapter 534: A whole net of dogfish

Their bodies are long and narrow, measuring about fifty or sixty centimeters from head to tail. They are grayish-brown in color, marked with horizontal stripes and light-colored spots.

In this group, they all look about the same size, slowly swimming and darting about.

Dogfish mainly inhabit coastal coral reef areas and are often found in the intertidal zone. They are small-to-medium-sized benthic sharks. They are nocturnal, preferring to hunt at night, and move quite slowly.

No wonder he had been stirring the water around here earlier until it was all muddy, yet he hadn't seen a single trace of these dogfish.

Watching them darting about, he didn't care that the pool was still full of water, nor did he take off his rain boots; he stepped straight in, and the water instantly rose to his knees.

These dogfish really do move slowly. From the moment he saw them scurrying about to the time he excitedly climbed down from the reef, they were still swaying their tails underwater, yet to find their next rock to hide under. They were clearly visible in the murky, muddy water.

Ye Yaodong aimed his hand net at two of them moving in tandem and caught both in one go, grinning from ear to ear.

"Two birds with one stone!"

He shook the hand net. Judging by the weight in his hand, these two were heavy; he felt they must weigh about five jin.

The bones of a dogfish are cartilage. Although they look long and narrow, they are edible, and their taste is far superior to that of a regular shark. Naturally, their price is also far superior to that of a regular shark.

He estimated that they could sell for about thirty or forty cents per jin, and retail could reach fifty or sixty cents.

There were still many more darting about underwater. He hurried toward where he had left the bucket, took the two out of the hand net and put them in, then immediately continued scooping with impatience.

After three consecutive attempts, catching a total of 5, he could no longer see any sign of the dogfish, even though there had been so many when he first started.

He was certain there had been over a dozen earlier. There should still be some in this pool; they were just hiding.

Since he was already in the water and his lower body was soaked, he didn't need to climb back up onto the reef to scoop. Standing in the water was more convenient, and he could even move a few rocks while he was at it.

Some shrimp and crabs, startled from under the rocks, would dart out, just in time for him to scoop them up.

The resources in the eighties were truly abundant. He had seen videos of people pumping out pools before, but there were only a few small fish inside, and those were faked.

Now, every time he pried open a large rock, there were plenty of small shrimp and crabs popping out. They were just a bit small, so he didn't keep them; he scooped them up and put them back in the water. Once the tide rose, they would be able to return to the sea.

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It wasn't just in the sea; the rivers were the same. In this day and age, if you pried open a rock in a river, there would be small river shrimp and crabs underneath. It would be hard to see such things in the future.

Just as he was releasing the shrimp and crabs from his net, he saw a dogfish suddenly dart out from under a large rock in front of him. He happily took two quick steps forward.

"It took no effort at all; I can catch another one."

He muttered to himself, quickly extending his hand net, and managed to trap it against the edge of the rock.

But when he lifted the hand net to grab the dogfish, he saw that there wasn't just one inside—there was also a large fish with spots!

?

"Holy crap! A tiger grouper is here!"

"Damn it, it really is 'it takes no effort at all.' I've been scooping and searching everywhere for so long, and it was actually here."

"I catch it just by scooping randomly, but I couldn't find it when I was looking everywhere. This is just ridiculous..."

Ye Yaodong looked at the two fish in the net, overjoyed.

Groupers are aggressive and have a strong sense of territory. Generally, there can only be one fish in a single spot. It absolutely cannot tolerate other fish in its territory; if it discovers any, it will fiercely drive them away or attack.

He thought that the dogfish must have invaded its territory just now, so it attacked and drove the other away, which was why the dogfish had run out and been seen by him.

As a result, his accidental scoop caught both fish in one net, making him the "oriole" that caught the mantis.

The tiger grouper is considered the most common grouper and is also a relatively cheaper variety among groupers.

However, "cheap" is relative to other groupers. Compared to ordinary fish, it is still better than some and worse than others, and this fish weighed a little over two jin.

Ye Yaodong happily grabbed the tiger grouper first and put it into the bucket, but the guy splashed water all over his face.

Still, he was in high spirits.

He put the other dogfish into the bucket as well; the water in the bucket was already seven or eight-tenths full.

He glanced at the pool again. The water at the edges had stopped flowing, so he figured that was about it. Unless he had a water pump, he would have to scoop the water out bucket by bucket himself.

He wasn't stupid; he wouldn't do something so foolish.

After thinking about it, since the fish in the pool couldn't run away anyway, he decided to take this bucket of fish back first, get an empty bucket, and then continue scooping for dogfish.

He had only caught eight so far, and there were definitely more inside. A dozen dogfish could sell for over ten yuan; he had to catch them.

Lin Xiuqing had also been working hard scooping in her own small pool, and her harvest was quite good. When she saw Ye Yaodong returning with a bucket, she waved at him excitedly and shouted, "Adong, I caught a grouper! Come and see what variety it is!"

"Oh? You caught a grouper too? Let me see. Is it a tiger grouper?"

"It's not a tiger grouper. I recognize a tiger grouper. Take a look." Lin Xiuqing's excited face was flushed, appearing faintly through her silk scarf.

Ye Yaodong climbed onto the reef and jumped down beside her. "Hey, you've caught quite a lot too, haven't you?"

"Oh wow~ It's a sesame grouper. This one is expensive, twice as expensive as the tiger grouper I caught just now..."

"Let me see what else... a yellowfin, a black cuttlefish, and quite a few stone crabs... your harvest is not bad at all..."

Lin Xiuqing smiled until her eyes narrowed, feeling quite proud. "You said the pool was too small just now, but look, there are still plenty of things."

Ye Yaodong was also very happy. "My harvest is also very good. I just caught eight dogfish, and there are still more in the pool, but the bucket is full, so I came over to swap buckets."

"Really? Then that should sell for quite a lot of money."

"Yeah, it can sell for over ten yuan. A fisherman never returns empty-handed, and a beachcomber shouldn't either."

"What are you talking about?" Lin Xiuqing looked at him with a smile. "You say strange things all day long."

"Hehe, I only know a little bit about everything, but it's enough for now."

Strange indeed. Lin Xiuqing shook her head and stopped paying attention to him, wanting to see if she could scoop up a bit more.

"Be careful not to fall in, or you'll easily catch a cold in this weather. I almost fell in just now, but luckily I steadied myself."

"I know. I'll scoop a couple more times, and if there's nothing left, I'll stop. I guess there's nothing left."

"Yeah, just dig around on the reef."

After Ye Yaodong finished speaking, he took another empty bucket and continued to scoop at the large pool.

The feeling of catching fish one after another was just too satisfying; this was the charm of beachcombing.

While scooping, he looked down and picked up a few oyster snails attached to the reef, and even dug up a few large oysters.

He had only had a bowl of porridge in the morning and had just taken two pees, so his stomach was empty; this was just right to replenish his energy.

He swallowed two raw ones on the spot—absolutely authentic flavor. It was just missing some wasabi, but the fresh texture was still great, different from the flavor after being cooked with minced garlic; each had its own merits.

However, only a few of them, the coastal people, would eat oysters raw like this. Most people would only eat shrimp, mantis shrimp, or squid raw.

On a sunny day in November, the warmth of the sun couldn't overcome the cold wind on the island, which whistled in his ears.

Luckily, he was wrapped in a thick cotton coat, but his feet were freezing after being in the water for so long. Although the water in the pool had mostly flowed out, it was still up to just below his knees, and his rain boots were still full of water.

Ye Yaodong scooped up a dogfish and put it in the bucket, counting them. There were already five inside, plus the eight he had caught earlier, making a total of 13. He felt he had caught just about all of them; there shouldn't be any left behind.

The ones that had darted out from under the large rock earlier should basically all be here.

He had even caught another flower eel, but this one was too small and thin, so he put it back into the water.

Save the big ones, leave the small ones; sustainable development.

If this flower eel was small, it would only have thorns and bones and no meat. Taking it back to cook would be a waste of firewood and a waste of seasonings like ginger and garlic. It wasn't easy for him to carry water and chop firewood every few days.

Ye Yaodong stretched his back, feeling that he had probably moved all the rocks that could be moved inside. Small fish didn't matter, but there definitely wouldn't be any large fish left. He figured he had scooped enough and could leave the pool.

Sitting on the reef, he poured out the seawater that had filled his rain boots, took off his socks, and let his feet air out.

He had been soaking intermittently for an hour or two, and he had endured it for an hour or two; the soles of his feet were already wrinkled from the seawater.

He rubbed his feet against his pants casually. "Sigh~ no line of work is simple. Being a fisherman is hard~"

"I will definitely retire and enjoy life at 40. When that time comes, I'll go out to sea if I want to, lie at home if I want to, and go out to play if I want to."

"Sigh, the ideal is plump, but reality is reality. I'm only 26, young man~ you still have to work..."

Ye Yaodong sat there resting for a while, muttered a few words, then threw his tools into a sack, tucked it under his arm, carried his rain boots in one hand and the bucket in the other, and prepared to go dig for some razor clams barefoot.

Who cares if there were other pools nearby? Anyway, he had scooped enough for today and was tired.

If he didn't see them and didn't think about them, they didn't exist. It saved him from seeing them and having to work for another half day, but if he did see them, he wouldn't be satisfied leaving them.

The beach here hadn't been polluted and had no human footprints. The sand under his feet had been baked by the sun for half a day and was semi-dry. Stepping on it felt particularly comfortable and soft, and it was warm; the feeling under his feet was quite good. ===== CHAPTER 535 =====