Chapter 740: The Oriole Behind

Grouper have extremely strong territorial instincts; if one grouper appears in a location, a second one basically won't exist there, and if there is one, they will attack each other, with the victor becoming king!

After seeing two groupers fighting, Ye Yaodong was so surprised he dared not get too close, only daring to keep his distance, staying in place and watching from afar; fortunately, the light was still quite bright now.

He widened his eyes, carefully observing what species the two groupers beside him were.

Many groupers have spots on their bodies, but the shapes of the spots differ, and some look very similar.

This requires careful identification, otherwise it is easy to mistake them, but at a glance, there was no doubt they were groupers; he certainly had that level of discernment.

One grouper was large and the other small, charging at each other, appearing and disappearing within the seaweed; the small fish surrounding them did not scatter, lingering and swimming nearby, watching with some itchiness in their hearts, but how could they see so clearly from such a distance?

The two groupers appeared to be different species, but since they were darting in and out of the seaweed without staying outside for long, he could not yet clearly make out what species they were.

After watching for a while and seeing them still viciously attacking each other there, he simply swam toward the nearby reef, searching for big squid while keeping a constant watch on them.

These fish are both vicious and slippery, swimming much faster than him in the sea; how could he catch them just by charging up?

Watching was enough; he had to find the big squid first, as that was the good catch he could actually grab.

However, he still diverted a bit of his attention to those two groupers.

As he swam to the side, he was lucky enough to see a smaller grouper being bitten by the mouth by the other and dragged out from the seaweed.

Eh? It's a Mouse Grouper!

This time he saw clearly; the grouper being bitten was a Mouse Grouper.

Mouse Groupers have high recognizability among groupers, covered entirely in black spots, including on the fin rays, with the rest being milky yellow.

He had caught one before and heard that Mouse Groupers are considered relatively gentle among groupers, but seeing this now, the two were fighting quite fiercely, showing no sign of gentleness at all.

He didn't know if it was a forced counterattack; presumably, if it didn't resist, it would be driven away.

He involuntarily paused for a moment; when the larger grouper bit the Mouse Grouper, it also revealed its true form from the grass.

It's a Money Grouper!

Damn! Both are top-tier!

Ye Yaodong could not make a sound, so he could only exclaim in his heart and widen his eyes.

The Mouse Grouper being bitten was quite small, a whole size smaller than that Money Grouper; no wonder it couldn't win given the disadvantage in size.

The official scientific name of the Money Grouper is actually Hawksbill Grouper, also commonly called Flower-Head Plum Grouper or Flower-Dog Grouper; it is named for the hexagonal spots on its body resembling coins, and it mainly inhabits near-shore debris coral reef areas.

This Money Grouper was indeed very vicious; when it opened its mouth to bite the Mouse Grouper, it did not loosen its grip at all and kept wagging its tail, as if trying to open its mouth even wider to swallow the opponent in one bite.

Seeing this, Ye Yaodong couldn't help but think that when fish prey, they usually swallow in one gulp and do not chew.

In the past, when they killed fish and cut open their bellies, the undigested fish and shrimp inside were all whole, with no missing limbs.

This fierce Money Grouper seemed determined to settle things with the Mouse Grouper today.

The two fish were now mouth-to-mouth, stuck there, swaying and spinning with the waves.

The small fish around them, fearing they would be caught in the crossfire as the two swayed, retreated a circle to the side, but still did not leave, perhaps cheering them on.

Watching the two fish locked in a stalemate, Ye Yaodong felt his excitement grow stronger and stronger, and his eyes grew brighter and brighter.

Keep stalemating! When they are inseparable, that will be my chance to pick up the bargain!!!

Now he didn't dare take a single step away, just waiting there.

The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.

However, in an instant, he realized that a dead fish wasn't worth much; only a live one was valuable!

Thinking of this, he immediately acted; he had to catch them while the two fish were still stuck there and hadn't died yet, otherwise, if they died, it would be too late for him to pick up the corpses.

Normally, fish are very slippery in the water, but the state of these two fish right now was not normal; mouth-to-mouth, one large one holding another small one, presumably they couldn't retreat even if they wanted to.

From the moment Ye Yaodong saw them mouth-to-mouth to the moment he reacted, not much time had passed; he quickly grabbed his hand net and rushed forward, not knowing if the two fish were dead yet.

The small fish wandering around there, sensing the disturbance in the surrounding seawater, immediately dodged to the side.

Ye Yaodong extended his hand net, scooping both fish directly into it; unable to struggle, they only wagged their tails a few times after being netted and then went motionless.

The Money Grouper still held the Mouse Grouper's mouth wide open; presumably it had opened too wide and got stuck, so now it couldn't struggle or back away from each other.

Still inseparable.

Ye Yaodong was overjoyed; it was all effortless gain.

Originally, he thought that no matter how they fought, it wouldn't be his turn to get involved; these groupers were fierce and slippery, swimming fast, and once they darted into the coral reefs or hidden reefs, no one could do anything about them.

But he didn't expect the two fish to fight so well, biting down without letting go, and almost killing each other in the process.

Fearing they might die, the first thing Ye Yaodong did after netting them was to grab them and stuff them into the net bag, and only then, through the net bag, pulled the Mouse Grouper's mouth out of the Money Grouper's mouth.

He dared not separate the two directly inside the hand net; if he separated them and they weren't dead, they might just run away.

Separating them inside the net bag removed this worry; even if they wanted to run, they couldn't, and would have to stay inside the net bag.

After he separated the two fish with his hands, they remained motionless for quite a while, and even the Money Grouper's wide-open mouth could not close.

Are they done for?

Could it be that he was a step too slow and both are dead?

Ye Yaodong reached out and poked them a few times...

They moved!

The Mouse Grouper, originally floating motionless, instantly wagged its tail after being poked a few times and came back to life.

At the same time, the Money Grouper's mouth slowly closed, and it also moved.

Good, good; he separated them in time, and both fish came back to life; just now, it seemed one foot was already stepping into the coffin and the other foot was already lifted; one step slower and they would truly have died.

After confirming both fish were alive, Ye Yaodong immediately rushed to the surface, first putting them in a bucket to keep them alive; he had been down for quite a while and it was time to go up and rest.

Ye Father had already finished collecting the shrimp traps above; today went smoothly with no traps stuck on the bottom, and he was sorting the fish and shrimp while waiting for Ye Yaodong to surface.

Seeing him pop his head up, Ye Father hurried over to pull him up.

As soon as Ye Yaodong climbed up, he immediately looked for a needle; he had to prick the swim bladders of the two fish and then put them in the bucket to keep them alive, otherwise they would burst.

While pulling him up, Ye Father also saw the two groupers in the bag at his waist and instantly widened his eyes.

"Ah! Grouper? How did you catch them?"

Ye's father had expected a few soft squids; as soon as he pulled him up, his attention went to his waist, only to find two groupers? It was too unexpected, too delightful.

"Mouse grouper! Money grouper! These two groupers are great; quickly take a needle and prick their bellies so we can keep them alive."

Ye Yaodong, as soon as he climbed up, immediately went to find a needle.

Ye's father quickly grabbed two buckets, drew two buckets of seawater; these two fish must be kept separate, otherwise they will fight when put together.

It had a bit of the flavor of a king meeting a king; neither would admit defeat, no wonder they are so expensive!

After they pricked the two fish once and placed them separately into two buckets, watching them sway inside the buckets, only then did Ye's father happily say, "How did you catch them? You caught two at once."

"Haha, I picked them up!"

"Picked them up?"

"I couldn't find that reef crevice from yesterday in the water, so I wandered around blindly; I happened to see these two groupers fighting. I had originally thought I couldn't catch them and would just leave, but I happened to see that large money grouper open its mouth wide and swallow the mouse grouper's mouth in one bite."

"Neither fish would yield to the other; they were stuck like that. Seeing it as an opportunity, I went up and used a hand scoop net to net them, and only after they were in the net bag did I reach in to separate them."

Ye's father was extremely surprised; this was possible?

The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind; when the two fish were fighting to the death, someone simply picked up the bargain and netted them all at once.

Ye Yaodong felt both proud and delighted; it just happened that he encountered this.

In this day and age, no one stays underwater for so long; it is only fitting that the money should be earned by him.

"At least they haven't suffocated; they are still alive."

"After I discovered them, I kept watching them fight from the side; I saw the big one bite the small one, and they got stuck there, neither able to overcome the other. My reaction was fast, so I caught them both at once."

Ye's father's old face bloomed with a smile. "Good, good; catching two groupers means we can sell them for a good price, and since they are alive, they will be worth even more."

"Mm, the sun has just set; the sky is still a bit early. I will rest a bit, take a break, and then go back into the water to search again. If I still don't see them, we will just go straight home."

"Good, good, then you hurry and rest a bit."

Ye Yaodong sat directly on the deck, "Did the shrimp traps get stuck on the bottom?"

"No, they were all pulled up. There was one lobster, and we probably collected nearly twenty jin of sword shrimp. While waiting for you just now, I sorted them by size; there were more large ones."

"The harvest is quite good. I didn't see any sea cucumbers when I went down just now; I don't know if they are hiding."

"How could they be that easy to find?" Ye's father felt tempted again. "Otherwise, you rest here, and I'll go down and take a look?"

Just as Ye Yaodong was about to refuse, Ye's father added, "We can take turns going down; this way you can have time to catch your breath, and we can save a bit of time to get home earlier."

"I'm only fifty-three; I'm not seventy or eighty, unable to move. What's so hard about going into the water? Let me go down and try first to see?"

"Big Brother, Second Brother, last year you couldn't hold on for long and came up immediately. Can you manage?"

"Let's try."