Sue
He picked up the giant shell and examined it.
It was about twenty-five centimeters long and weighed about five kilograms. Most people would need two hands to carry it. The shell was thick and sturdy, looking like a saucer. The left side of the shell was slightly bulging, while the right side was relatively flat. The front ear was slightly protruding, while the back ear was round and blunt.
The surface of the shell was brown in color, the scales on the top of the shell were dense, and the scales on the back edge of the shell were obviously free.
"This seems to be a white butterfly shell," Sue said.
The more he looked, the brighter his eyes became. Pinctada alba, also known as large pearl oyster, white conch pearl oyster, belongs to the tropical and subtropical ocean bivalve shellfish. It is a pearl oyster species unique to the South China Sea in China.
Its pearl reserves accounted for about 90% of the total reserves of all kinds of pearl oysters in Hainan Province. The pearls produced were large in size, good in color, and expensive. They were precious ornaments and medicinal materials. They were very popular in the international pearl market and had a very high economic value.
However, due to their low numbers and high value, they were classified as second-class protected animals by the country and prohibited from being caught.
"Xiaohu, where did you find these white butterfly shells?" Sue asked.
He didn't want to break the white butterfly shell to see if there were pearls inside, because he didn't want to kill it. After all, it was a national second-class protected animal.
It was said that some people were skilled enough to open the shell and take out the pearl. The shell could still survive, but that kind of technique was undoubtedly as difficult as surgery. Sue
He admitted that he didn't have that kind of skill.
Moreover, there was a great chance that a wild shell could breed a pearl. The probability of this shell containing a pearl was less than one percent.
"Over there." The killer whale turned his head and called out to the sea.
"Take me there," Sue said.
With a net bag and diving goggles, he jumped on the back of the killer whale, and the killer whale carried Sue.
After swimming for about 20 minutes, he was far away from the coast of Su Family Village and approached an uninhabited island. There were many small islands in this sea area that had not been developed.
About three hundred meters away from the uninhabited island, the killer whale called out to remind Sue.
Then, he dived into the sea and dived rapidly. Even with Sue's speed,
Even with his physique, he soon felt the pressure on his chest, which was abnormally uncomfortable.
Humans were not fish. They could not withstand the rapid change in water pressure.
"Slow down." Sue said.
He quickly patted the killer whale and squeezed out two words by exhaling.
Only then did the killer whale slow down and slowly dive, ten meters, fifteen meters, twenty meters … The average person will feel a tingling eardrum and breathing difficulties after diving 10 meters. Some professional divers can dive 15 meters or even 20 meters.
The limit of diving was the limit of human resistance against water pressure, as well as the limit of the body's physiological functions.
In January 2000, Francisco Ferreira, a Cuban, set a 162-meter free diving record in the Gulf of Mexico without carrying an air bottle and only adjusting his breathing through his own lung capacity.
Sue
His current physique was definitely far superior to that of an ordinary person. Thus, when he slowly dived to a depth of twenty meters, he still did not feel much. Even when he reached a depth of fifty meters, he only felt a slight discomfort.
Sue
Looking at the bottom of the sea through the diving goggles, he found that the bottom of the sea was rocky and gravel. There were a few undersea plants and a lot of white butterfly shells. Some were crawling, and some were dead, lying quietly on the bottom of the sea.
Sue
He directed the killer whale to move close to the bottom of the sea and turned over a huge white butterfly shell in front of him. It was empty. After turning several in a row, he finally saw a pearl with a diameter of about ten millimeters lying inside. Unfortunately, it could be seen with the naked eye that it was not very round and the color was general.
Sue
He continued to search and when he couldn't hold his breath, he went to the surface of the sea to breathe and then came down again. He found pearls one after another, some of which were of good and bad quality. Some of them should be worth thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan.
"Wow, it's big." Sue
Suddenly, he saw a shell, which was more than 30 centimeters long, and he let the killer whale swim to it. When he opened it, his eyes widened. There was a white pearl lying inside, more than 15 millimeters, and it was very round, full of luster, and there was no flaw in it. Although Sue
Although he doesn't know much about it, it can be seen that the value of this pearl is definitely not low.
Sue
After searching for a while, almost all the nearby white butterfly shells were turned over and fifty or sixty pearls were found. Except for the flawless one, there were more than a dozen other pearls of good quality, and the others were very average.
"Let's go and have a look around."
Sue
Instead of going back immediately, he let the killer whale take him through the bottom of the sea and enjoyed the scenery of the bottom of the sea through the diving goggles. Although he was at the seaside, he did not dive so deep. It was the first time for him to play freely in the deep sea like this.
Sue
You can see all kinds of corals, seaweeds, fish, shellfish, crabs on the bottom of the sea. The underwater world can definitely be described as grotesque and strange. Once Sue accidentally touched a clump of coral.
Unexpectedly, the coral suddenly moved, and then a mass of black ink sprayed out. It turned out to be an octopus in disguise.
Sue
When he encounters strange shells, blood corals, and the like, he puts them into a net bag. This time, he doesn't want to sell them. After all, they are not worth much money, but he wants to take them back to his home for collection.
Sue
He is still thinking that there are many ancient shipwrecks on the bottom of the sea. If he can find one full of ceramics, gold, silver, jewelry, and the like, he will make a lot of money, but unfortunately, he didn't find a piece of wreckage.
"Huh?
Could that fish be … "
Sue
Suddenly, he noticed a fish, a bit like some kind of precious fish. Unfortunately, before he could see it clearly, he saw it drilling into the coral reef.
Sue
The killer whale swam quickly and squeezed into a piece of coral. The fish continued to hide, but Sue
This time, he saw it clearly. It was indeed a Humphead Wrasse. It had a high forehead, like Napoleon's hat, so it was called "Napoleon".
Humphead Wrasse belongs to the Wrasse family. It is the largest and longest-lived coral fish, generally living for more than 30 years.
It has been traded as an economic fish for a long time. Its meat is tender and famous, but because of its small quantity, it is expensive. A kilogram of Humphead Wrasse can be sold for $200, and a plate of fish lips can be sold for $300.
However, studies in most areas show that the population of Humphead Wrasse is gradually decreasing because of commercial trade, and its sharp decline rate was as high as 90%.
Many juveniles are caught before they reach reproductive age, resulting in fewer and fewer reproductive adults, and improper behavior in the fishing process threatens not only the survival of species but also the fragile coral reef ecosystem.
Humphead Wrasse was listed as an endangered species in the IUCN Red Book in 2004. At the 13th CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) conference held in October 2004, Humphead Wrasse was listed in CITES Appendix II and was strictly protected by the CITES Convention.
"Hey, it's an endangered species again."
Sue
They still won't break the law because of the great benefits, but it's always OK to watch the Humphead Wrasse. Many people only know that the Humphead Wrasse is delicious, but they forget that the Humphead Wrasse itself is also an ornamental fish.
Sue
Controlling the killer whale shuttling through the coral reef, because the killer whale is large, it can only pick places with large gaps. Four or five Humphead Wrasse were found in the coral reef, different sizes, small a few Jin, large more than ten Jin.
"What the hell, is that also a Humphead Wrasse?"