152: Eastern Grouper

The East Star Grouper, scientifically known as Plectropomus leopardus, also called the Leopard Coralgrouper, Coral Trout, and commonly referred to as “Guoyu” or “Qixingban.”

Its body and head are olive to reddish-brown, with fine blue spots covering its head, body, and fins. Its pectoral fins are red, and the posterior edge of its caudal fin has an indistinct dark band.

The fish has blue, reddish-brown, and yellow colors, a relatively slender body shape, and a small head.

It has dark pupils in its blue eyes, and its body is covered with fine white spots, resembling stars in the sky, hence the name “East Star Grouper.” The “East” in its name is because they are found in the Dongsha Islands, located in eastern China.

The Leopard Coralgrouper has a habit of digging burrows and living in them, preferring to forage at night. It is a euryhaline coral reef fish.

It is a carnivorous fish, naturally fierce and extremely gluttonous, feeding mainly on fish and occasionally preying on crustaceans.

The East Star Grouper is rich in nutrients, with snow-white, delicate, and delicious flesh. It is characterized by high protein, low fat, and low cholesterol.

Its nutritional value is unmatched by other seafood, and it has the effects of nourishing the liver and kidneys and prolonging life. Its fish skin is also an effective element for beauty and skin care, and its fish bones contain precious “brain gold” components that can activate brain cells, improve memory, and delay brain aging.

It has high economic value and, due to its vibrant colors, also has high ornamental value, making it highly favored by consumers and having broad market prospects.

The East Star Grouper belongs to high-end seafood and is listed among the “Four Great Fish Kings” in Hong Kong and Macau, serving as a national banquet-level ingredient.

The quality of the East Star Grouper varies depending on the proportion of red on its body surface, with those entirely red being the best and most expensive.

Premium quality, light red fish account for less than 10% of the total market, with price increases of over 30% during peak season.

Regarding market prices, taking the cheapest as an example:

Ordinary quality is about 150-300 yuan/jin (mainly farmed, smaller specifications).

For the same ordinary quality and size, wild East Star Grouper can reach 300-600 yuan/jin.

The larger the size and redder the color, the more expensive it is.

The most expensive wild East Star Grouper can even reach over a thousand yuan per jin.

The East Star Grouper usually lives in deep-sea coral areas, and it would not appear in shallow waters without this typhoon.

Yang Qi immediately put on his gloves and went into the water to catch fish. Most sea fish fins have hard spines; whether they are poisonous or not is beside the point, the pain is real.

Although the seawater in the puddle was murky, it did not deter Yang Qi, who possessed a golden finger.

He could easily find this East Star Grouper, but because the fish was full of vitality, it always slipped away just as he was about to touch its body.

“Yang Qi Ge, I just saw a fish. It ran away from your hand. Its back was red. What kind of fish do you think it could be?”

Bai Xue pointed at the fish that had just slipped away from Yang Qi’s hand and said,

“It doesn’t feel like a Red Grouper; it’s redder. Could it be an East Star Grouper?!”

“It feels a bit unbelievable; how could there be an East Star Grouper by the sea?”

Yang Qi said while catching the fish:

“Whether it is or not, let’s catch it first.”

“You’re right, I’ll help you.” Bai Xue poured the freshly tied Crabs into a snakeskin bag. She took the empty bucket and went into the water to help.

With Bai Xue’s help, the two finally caught the red fish, which weighed about three jin. Under the light, the red fish body shimmered with small white spots, looking very beautiful.

“East Star Grouper, it is an East Star Grouper, it’s too beautiful.”

Bai Xue looked at the fish in the bucket and said with great certainty.

“What great luck! We can even catch an East Star Grouper while foraging along the coastline. It seems this typhoon has brought us a lot of good fish!”

The two decided to keep the East Star Grouper in this bucket, or find a small puddle later to keep it. After all, if it can stay alive, it’s best for it to be alive, as the price difference is considerable.

While catching fish earlier, they also saw many fish darting around. In the corners under the reefs, some fish were hiding, making “pa pa pa” sounds.

To catch that East Star Grouper earlier, they chased it back and forth, making the seawater even murkier. As the saying goes: it’s easier to catch fish in muddy water.

This actually makes sense; when the water is murky, the splashes caused by the fish’s movements are visible to the person catching them. Murky water can also startle fish, causing them to hide behind a rock or something for cover.

Yang Qi saw a particularly large splash. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a dog shark about forty to fifty centimeters long. He walked over and grabbed its tail, lifting it up.

The dog shark, scientifically known as Chiloscyllium griseum, is a small shark species. It has an elongated, grayish-brown body and can grow up to about 80 centimeters long, with a slender tail.

It is often kept as an ornamental fish by some enthusiasts.

Its flesh is firm and delicious, making it one of the few edible species among sharks.

Dog sharks also have rich nutritional and medicinal value. They are rich in high-quality protein, unsaturated fatty acids, vitamins, and more.

They have significant benefits in treating hyperlipidemia, hypertension, spleen deficiency and fatigue, hemorrhoids, night blindness, and so on.

The market price is about 150-400 yuan per jin.

“Wow, wow, wow! It’s a dog shark! That’s great, let’s look for more. Dog sharks usually appear in pairs.”

Bai Xue said, looking at the dog shark in Yang Qi’s hand.

Yang Qi looked around and indeed found a slightly smaller dog shark hiding under a reef on one side. So, he pretended to search for a while and eventually found another dog shark, collecting both.

Yang Qi had used his ability to check, and the most abundant fish in this puddle were Black Sea Bream, Flathead Seabream, and Rockfish.

There were also a few Sea Eels weighing about half a jin, two Groupers weighing about three jin, and two Sea Bass.

In the furthest corner, there was also a Coconut Crab weighing about four jin, shivering there.

Yang Qi first went over and confiscated the Coconut Crab, saying somewhat boastfully:

“Xiao Xue, look!”

“Wow! What a big Coconut Crab. I wonder if it has a dragon pearl.”

Bai Xue gave a very appreciative gasp. Truly Yang Qi’s best hype man.

“We’ll kill it and check when we get back. Maybe it really does!” Yang Qi said.

“Okay! We’ll get the pearl when we get back, hahaha!”

Yang Qi felt for fish for a while, sensing the water was still a bit deep and hard to catch. So, he took another bucket and tidied up the fish he had found earlier.

He picked up the bucket and began scooping water out of the pit. After huffing and puffing for more than ten minutes, the water level in the puddle had dropped to about 20 centimeters.

Bai Xue also found a more suitable small puddle nearby. The two temporarily kept the East Star Grouper, dog sharks, and some valuable fish, along with the Sea Cucumbers in the snakeskin bag, in this puddle.

Crabs and shellfish would be fine for a while without water.

The two returned to the large puddle and began to catch fish. Bai Xue randomly caught whatever fish she could.

Yang Qi, however, was different. After telling Bai Xue to be careful, as there might be Crabs and Rockfish, he began to precisely catch some more valuable fish.