115: The best fresh food in South China Sea

Bai Lang poked the long spines of the fish and asked curiously, "Brother Jun, I think its spines are just a bit longer than a pufferfish's!"

Zhang Jun was now certain that it was a porcupinefish.

"Do you see? Pufferfish have soft spines, but these porcupinefish have long, hard spines."

"This porcupinefish is valuable all over; its taste is incredibly delicious, especially its fish skin, which is thick and rich in collagen. Moreover, it's completely non-toxic and safe to eat. Its market price is very high."

In the South China Sea, there's a saying: "If you haven't tasted the porcupinefish's freshness, you don't know the South China Sea's charm."

The 'porcupinefish' here refers to the porcupinefish, a unique blowfish found in the South China Sea. Unlike pufferfish, porcupinefish are safe and non-toxic, with the fish skin and internal organs being the most delicious and nutritious. The larger the fish, the thicker its skin.

Unlike pufferfish, when stimulated or startled, it will raise its long, hard spines. Pufferfish spines, on the other hand, are soft.

Whether it's used for hotpot, chicken soup, or fish porridge, the taste is incredibly delicious, the aroma is rich, and the nutritional value is abundant, earning it the title of 'South China Sea's No. 1 Delicacy.'

Wild porcupinefish are relatively rare, with market prices ranging from 380 to 500 yuan per jin. Of course, the larger the individual, the higher the price.

Yang Qi's interest was immediately piqued when he heard it tasted good and was expensive.

"Later, let's cook two of them into porridge and taste it, see if it's as delicious as they say!"

Bai Lang nodded vigorously, agreeing with the suggestion.

Strangely enough, this basket of 200-meter longline with about a hundred hooks caught 63 porcupinefish. It was incredibly dense; it seemed they had encountered a school of porcupinefish.

The largest ones weighed over ten jin, looking like small piglets.

They also caught over a dozen or twenty other types of fish. The harvest was very good.

"Oh dear! Brother-in-law, seven or eight porcupinefish died, what a pity."

"It's normal for some to die. These fish might have been on the hook for too long. Let's see if they're still fresh? If they're still fresh, we can still sell them for some money."

Yang Qi also replied with a hint of regret.

"Mhm, they're still pretty good, fresh. Their gills are bright red, and their eyeballs haven't discolored. They probably haven't been dead for long."

Bai Lang carefully inspected them and then said.

Zhang Fei slowly drove the setting sail forward, while the other three, with many hands, re-baited the longline with Shrimp and returned it to the sea.

Next, they retrieved the ground cages. Each ground cage contained four to five jin of crabs and large lobsters. The harvest was still good.

When it came to tying up the crabs, Zhang Jun couldn't help. A young master like him had never done such work before, and his attempt to help ended with a swimming crab pinching his finger.

Bai Lang could slowly tie a few, and the rest were done by Yang Qi himself, barely managing with the technique he learned from Bai Xue yesterday.

They took out the frozen bait fish, chopped them up, stuffed them into the ground cages, and put the ground cages back into the sea.

Yang Qi and Bai Lang started cooking. Yang Qi planned to make porridge with the porcupinefish, and Zhang Jun, relying on his past impressions of eating it, instructed Yang Qi to carefully process the porcupinefish.

The most troublesome part was removing the spines from the porcupinefish. A quick scald with hot water, and they came out without a sound.

Then, they separated the fish skin and flesh, cleaned out the internal organs, and chopped them into pieces.

Bai Lang, meanwhile, helped wash various crabs and large lobsters. Then, he poured a little water into the pot, added some ginger, garlic, and cooking wine, and started boiling them directly.

Zhang Jun watched from the side. Although he couldn't help, his eyes were constantly fixed on the process of handling the porcupinefish, seemingly supervising.

After Zhang Fei stabilized the boat, he also came over to help.

Soon, the aroma of porcupinefish porridge permeated the air, attracting everyone.

After Yang Qi tasted it for saltiness, he waved his hand, and everyone eagerly scooped a large bowl to try.

"Wow, this taste is too delicious!" Bai Lang said indistinctly while eating.

Yang Qi also praised it endlessly:

"It truly deserves to be called the 'South China Sea's No. 1 Delicacy.' This trip has been fruitful; not only did we catch so much valuable seafood, but we also tasted such delicious porridge. When we return, everyone should take some home to taste."

Zhang Jun and Zhang Fei also felt that this fishing trip was worth it as they ate the porridge.

Everyone enjoyed the delicious food while discussing their next fishing plan. Finally, Yang Qi decided to go out and look for schools of fish to catch.

Yang Qi opened the maritime map and looked at it. This location was less than an hour's distance from the spot they reported when they were at the pier.

He turned the rudder and headed towards the target sea area.

About half an hour later, Yang Qi suddenly noticed a flock of birds flying close to the sea surface ahead, coming towards him.

"Holy cow, what's going on?! What kind of birds fly so low?!"

A huge dark shadow beneath the water rushed towards them along with the birds.

With a series of "crackling!" sounds, some birds fell onto the deck one after another.

Yang Qi was very puzzled: "What kind of small birds would fly in this vast, endless ocean when there are no islands nearby to stop at?"

Suddenly, Yang Qi realized something was wrong. The "small birds" on the deck didn't fly again; they just kept hopping around on the deck.

Upon closer inspection, these were some azure-colored fish with wings.

"Holy cow, aren't these flying fish? I wonder if they're six-eyed flying fish?"

Yang Qi couldn't help but recall the meme about "six-eyed flying fish."

He shouted loudly, "A school of flying fish is fleeing! Brothers, pay attention, there's likely something big chasing them from behind."

Yang Qi quickly changed the form of his ability, and the view immediately became narrower and further.

Indeed, he saw a group of over twenty large creatures about five or six hundred meters ahead, chasing a large school of flying fish and heading towards him.

Upon closer inspection, the pursuers were twenty-odd sailfish.

What to do? At the speed of flying fish and sailfish, they would pass by very quickly. There might not even be time for them to fish.

As for driving the fishing boat at full speed to catch up with the flying fish and sailfish to fish, that would be akin to a fool's dream.

Then, they could only use the clumsy method — chumming to keep the fish around.

"Brother Jun, Bai Lang, quickly go to the freezer to get frozen bait for chumming. The fish finder shows a giant coming."

Yang Qi shouted from the cockpit. Then, he stopped the fishing boat and ran to the deck himself, starting to bait the fishing rods.

Zhang Jun and the others each carried a box of frozen bait fish and returned to the deck.

Yang Qi picked up a few frozen Blue Mackerel and, like throwing grenades, put all his strength into throwing them far out towards the large sailfish rushing towards him. One after another, without holding back.

As he continuously threw the bait, a bait chain quickly formed in front of him.

The others also followed suit, throwing frozen bait fish into the sea with "bang, bang, bang."

At this point, the sailfish school, chasing the flying fish school, had entered within a hundred meters of the setting sail.

Most of the sailfish in the school ignored the continuously sinking frozen bait fish in front of them.

Chasing the flying fish school, they sped past the setting sail and continued into the distance.