125: Four major economic fish

The next two hours passed very uneventfully, and everyone managed to catch some fish, but they were all small or inexpensive ones.

Yang Qi was fishing to the point of drowsiness, subconsciously activating his ability to check the sea, only to see dense schools of silver-white Beltfish appear in the water.

Beltfish are fierce carnivorous fish. They primarily hunt in groups, are active all day, forage day and night, and have an extremely varied diet.

Large Yellow Croaker, small Large Yellow Croaker, Beltfish, and cuttlefish (squid) are known as China's four major marine economic fish.

During the day, Beltfish prefer to stay in the deep sea, living a homebody life.

Its body structure is optimized for deep-sea life; they are covered in silver-white scales that provide reflective camouflage.

Their slender bodies allow them to swim faster and more efficiently.

Their eyes have evolved specially to see prey clearly in low-light conditions. Therefore, they can hunt freely even in the deep sea.

However, at night, they will all flock to the shallow sea to prey on small fish and shrimp in the upper and middle layers. By dawn, they will dive back down to the deep sea.

This peculiar behavior of Beltfish is called 'diel vertical migration.'

Furthermore, when they are still or swimming slowly, their entire body is vertical, with the head pointing up and the tail pointing down.

It's like silver-white swords hanging in mid-air, a very spectacular sight.

This is 'standing swimming.'

Yang Qi instantly perked up, not expecting such a massive school of Beltfish in this sea area. Although the individual price is not high, the sheer volume ensures a full catch.

He pretended to go to the cockpit to check the fish finder, then came out and shouted loudly:

"Brothers, the Beltfish school is here, at a depth of about 20 meters. Come on, come on!"

Everyone was also overjoyed; as long as a fish school arrived, they could have a good time. Everyone shouted:

"Let's get to it, let's get to it!"

Everyone adjusted their depth to about 20 meters, waiting for the Beltfish school to arrive.

Yang Qi cast his hook into the area where the Beltfish school was, waiting quietly.

Soon after, the fishing rod lightly shook a few times, and Yang Qi quickly reeled in, pulling up a plump, silver-white Beltfish.

The Beltfish in mid-air was already powerless to resist, mouth agape with sharp teeth, gently wiggling its long body a few times, its dorsal fin constantly twitching.

Under the sunlight, its scales shone with a silver glow, like a silver-white sword, very beautiful.

"Holy cow, what a sight, this live Beltfish is too beautiful," Bai Lang said.

Zhang Jun and Zhang Fei, the two brothers next to him, laughed:

"Not only is it good-looking, but it's also delicious. But when removing the hook, be sure to use pliers. Be careful not to let its teeth bite you."

Soon, the main force of the Beltfish also slowly arrived, too numerous to count.

Suddenly, the sea surface became lively, and everyone started catching fish, with Beltfish being pulled onto the sea one after another. Everyone was excited to have encountered the Beltfish school.

As time passed, Yang Qi had already harvested a lot. He looked at the Beltfish in the several fish baskets behind him, a satisfied smile on his face.

The fish baskets had been replaced several times; basically, two or three baskets would be taken to the freezing room, and everyone had sent them there multiple times.

He thought to himself that he would pan-fry a few tonight, and everyone could enjoy this fresh delicacy.

Can't finish fishing, absolutely can't finish fishing!

He fished until he felt like throwing up. His whole body went numb.

"Damn it, if only I had a trawl net, tens of thousands of pounds in one net!" Yang Qi thought of the trawl net again.

The group fished until two or three in the morning when Zhang Jun, Zhang Fei, and Bai Lang finally couldn't take it anymore. They greeted Yang Qi, and then the group returned to the rest cabin to sleep.

They also told Yang Qi not to wake them for breakfast.

After they all left, Yang Qi thought for a moment and went to get the cast net. He cast it twice near the several fishing spots where they had been fishing.

Then he used the crane to hoist the Beltfish onto the deck. After the cast net had swept through all the fishing spots.

Another thousand-plus pounds of shimmering silver Beltfish appeared on the deck. Next was sorting the Beltfish, which required carefully arranging each one.

In the foam boxes, there was a layer of Beltfish and a layer of crushed ice. The tiny silver-white scales on the Beltfish easily fall off, which would damage their appearance and affect sales, so once arranged, they are generally not moved casually.

Usually, when buying Beltfish at the market, vendors also won't let you casually rummage through them. They can only carefully move them themselves. This is the reason.

Of course, if it's frozen Beltfish, then disregard what I said; you can even smash that kind of Beltfish, and it'll be fine.

I'm talking about fresh Beltfish, or White Pomfret, and other fish with particularly small scales.

Yang Qi sat alone on a small stool, arranging the Beltfish. He roughly divided all the Beltfish into three grades: over one pound as one grade, half a pound to one pound as another grade, and under half a pound as the last grade.

He worked alone for over half an hour, then looked at the pile of Beltfish, which hadn't really diminished much!

He couldn't even pick them fast enough.

"Sigh! Too many is also a hassle! Fishing for big fish is better!"

In desperation, he could only get up and go to the rest cabin to call for help.

When he entered the rest cabin, the three guys had just finished showering in turns and were still awake, chatting.

It turned out they were hungry and were discussing what late-night snack to make.

This was good; he didn't have to wake them from their dreams, and Yang Qi's original mental burden immediately vanished.

"Brother-in-law, what do you want to eat? I'll make it," Bai Lang said immediately upon seeing Yang Qi enter.

"This... that... first help me sort the Beltfish on the deck. Hehehe, I just caught another thousand pounds of Beltfish."

"I'll make the late-night snack later."

Zhang Jun, Zhang Fei, and Bai Lang, upon hearing this, although a bit helpless, still followed Yang Qi onto the deck.

After all, they had all showered, sigh~! They would have to shower again later.

Seeing the mountain of Beltfish, everyone gasped. However, they didn't say much, asked about the sorting specifications, and immediately started sorting.

During the sorting process, everyone chatted and laughed, and the atmosphere was harmonious.

Yang Qi also proactively mentioned that he had a sudden whim and tried a cast net before going to sleep. He didn't expect to catch so much.

Bai Lang joked while sorting: "Brother-in-law, you're going to clear out all the Beltfish in this sea area."

Yang Qi responded with a smile: "Not even close! Who told this Beltfish school to be so massive? Most of them still got away."

After an hour of effort from the four people, the Beltfish were finally sorted. Looking at the neatly arranged Beltfish, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

At this point, Yang Qi also fulfilled his promise and went to the kitchen to make a lavish late-night snack. Seafood porridge, Red Grouper, Crab, lobster, steamed Beltfish, and so on—a proper gout-inducing feast.

"Sigh! Poisoning us late at night! Forget it, I don't care. Eat first, talk later," Zhang Jun exclaimed while drinking the delicious fish porridge.

Everyone sat together, eating delicious food and talking about the interesting events of fishing for Beltfish that night.

After the late-night snack, the group decided to sleep in the next morning and then returned to the rest cabin to rest.