1983Fishing and Farming between Mountains and Seas

Chapter 295: A War of Expulsion Between Real and Fake Goods
In fact, we only drove for about half an hour, bypassed several large islands, and in a remote sea area where fishing was rarely done, a long island appeared in sight.

The island is not wide but very long, and the reef belt along the coast of the island is also very long.

"This is it. I don't even know what it's called, but there are quite a few snappers in the reefs of this island. Take your time fishing. If you have caught all the snappers on this side, it's okay. Just turn over. There are still snappers on the back of the island!" Old Xie slowed down the boat and announced.

"There's more on the back?" Liang Ziqiang and his friends were really happy. It would be impossible to fish all of this side in one day.

"The reef on the back is not as long as this side, so there may be fewer fish, but there won't be too many, enough for you to fish!"

Old Xie watched them moor the boat near the reef belt of the small island, and deliberately glanced at Deng Zhaocai:
"You guys fish your own fish, I'll look around here to see if there are any smaller electric rays. I'll glance over at you from time to time. Fatty, if you dare to catch a fish, I'll throw you into the water!"

After Old Xie finished speaking, he really drove his wooden boat and continued to look for electric rays to keep healthy...

Liang Ziqiang and eight other people were left standing by the reef, looking collectively in a mess.

None of them expected that Old Xie was not joking, but was serious and was determined not to let Deng Zhaocai catch a single fish...

Deng Zhaocai's tears were about to fill the sea. He was just joking at the time and never thought that the consequences would be so serious.

If the old man didn't hit him, he would want to slap himself in the face. Why would he run around like that?
This was probably the first time in my life that I shed tears of regret for my nonsense words...

The old man's boat sailed to the sea. He sat on the bow looking for electric rays. From time to time, he would look over here and take a look at Deng Zhaocai.

There's nothing we can do about it.

Liang Ziqiang and the others couldn't help him, so they hurried to grab their fishing rods.

As for bait, it is not that we do not have it. We originally planned to go out to sea to cast nets and use longline fishing.

The hundreds or even thousands of iron hooks placed in the basins on the boat were all equipped with baits.

At this point, you just need to take some shrimp bait off the iron hook and put it on the fish hook of the fishing rod.

Holding fishing rods, they began to look for a suitable place for fishing.

As far as the eye can see, there is a group of fish emerging from the cracks in the rocks.

However, upon seeing these fish, Liang Tiancheng and Lin Baixian were disappointed:
"This fish is not even as thick as a finger, it's as thin as a piece of paper, how can it be a snapper?!"

The dozen or so fish swimming in front of me were indeed very small, long and narrow, with yellow or blue bodies and a long black stripe.

This is too small.

There are many types of snappers, but no matter which type of snapper, they are generally larger in size, larger than the average small grouper.

Such a tiny fish in front of him obviously could not belong to any kind of snapper, even Liang Tiancheng could be sure of this.

Unexpectedly, Liang Ziqiang also took a closer look at the tiny fish and laughed:
"There is no doubt that there are indeed snappers hidden in this reef!"

"There will always be one or two that swim out. It's impossible for them all to hide, right?" asked the eldest brother Liang Tiancheng doubtfully.

As we were talking, a bright red color appeared on the edge of a reef.

First, a fish head appeared, and then the whole fish, except for the tail, which was hidden in the crevice of the rock, swam out from the reef.

The fish has an oval body, long and tall, slightly flat, and a slightly humped back.

"Red snapper!" Liang Zi lowered his voice.

As expected, snappers are generally not small. This red snapper in front of me weighs about 4 to 5 kilograms.

Just seconds after the red snapper came out, the tiny fish in front, as small as small pieces of paper, swam towards it.

The next moment, those small fish with yellow background and black stripes began to peck at its head and back like chicks pecking at rice!
The red snapper neither dodged nor showed any intention of preying on these tiny fish. It just hovered in the water and let the small fish peck at it.

It looked like it was enjoying it. After pecking the body, the big red snapper opened its mouth again.

The tiny fish went into its mouth without hesitation.

The red snapper kept its mouth open, letting the small fish float in and out of its mouth...

"What the hell...are you brushing your teeth?!"

Deng Zhaocai, who was standing by with empty hands, thought for a long time and finally came up with an analogy.

The tiny ribbon-like fish moves up and down in the big fish's mouth. Isn't it like a toothbrush brushing its teeth?

"You're right this time, it's brushing its teeth!" Liang Ziqiang said with a smile, "This fish is called the doctor fish, also known as Piaopiao. It likes to stay with the snapper the most, helping the snapper take a bath, brush its teeth, and keep it clean!"

In fact, the official name of Doctor Fish is the split-lip fish, and it likes to stay with some larger fish.

Their favorite thing to do is to peck at the small shrimps, dirt, small insects and the like stuck on the bodies of big fish.

Even the dirt and parasites in the mouths of big fish are within their cleaning range, which shows their extreme professionalism.

It's not just snappers that are happy to cooperate with them. Even the usually aggressive moray eels will welcome them, quietly stretching their mouths and opening them to cooperate with their cleaning "treatment." It will never happen that they will close their mouths while brushing their teeth and swallow the floating fish.

Snappers are one of the species that Piaopiao Fish is most willing to serve.

"Why not stay here? There must be red snappers in this reef, if not anything else!" Liang Ziqiang had already seen schools of floating fish with his own eyes, as well as red snappers, so he suggested immediately.

Several people found a spot and started fishing in this area.

After waiting for a while, Liang Tiancheng's fishing rod responded first. He quickly picked up the fishing rod.

"Red snapper, it's really a red snapper!" Liang Tiancheng couldn't help but said happily, "It's a little smaller than the one we just saw, it should be about three or four pounds, right?"

"It's at least 80 cents a pound. You can make almost three dollars from this one!" Liang's father said happily.

As he was speaking, he also caught a fish. When he pulled it up, it was also a bright red snapper, and its size was almost the same as Liang Tiancheng's.

After a while, Lin Baixian, Li Liang and Zhu Tianpeng also caught fish, all of them were red snappers.

"Brother Qiang, your fishing rod is slow to react today. No fish has come yet?"

Because Deng Zhaocai was not allowed to fish, he just sat there, taking in the overall situation, giving instructions and making comments.

"It seems like it's here, why is it a little different?!" Deng Zhaocai made a sudden turn just after he finished the previous sentence, because he saw Liang Ziqiang's fishing rod suddenly move.

The fish Liang Ziqiang caught was similar in size to the ones caught by the others, also weighing about three or four pounds, but its appearance was different. The most obvious thing was that its color was not bright red, but reddish brown, and it even had a slight hint of purple under the sunlight.

"Purple snapper?!" Liang Ziqiang laughed as he pulled the fish closer.

Although the purple snapper and the red snapper only differ by one letter, the purple snapper is obviously more rare, and its taste and price are also more advantageous.

"It's really a purple snapper!" Liang's father confirmed, "This fish is more expensive. Not just a little more expensive, it's usually almost double the price of a red snapper!"

"Is it so expensive?" Li Liang and the others were a little surprised.

After all, we don’t usually catch many snappers on the sea surface. We can occasionally encounter red snappers, but other snappers such as purple snappers are even rarer.

In this way, Liang Ziqiang's point is comparable to the previous two.

This fish alone costs more than six dollars.

We have just started fishing. Who knows if there are more expensive species hidden in this reef?
As we continued fishing, we began to catch fish one after another, and the most common fish was red snapper. The seemingly calm reef zone was indeed home to many snappers.

Just as they were concentrating on fishing, ripples suddenly appeared on the water surface at the edge of a reef, and at the same time, a bright red color emerged.

"Damn! What a big red snapper!" Li Liang couldn't help but shout out.

Liang Ziqiang also looked over. This red snapper was bigger than all the fish they had caught. It was probably about 7 or 8 kilograms, which was considered a relatively large fish among the snappers!
"It would be great if this snapper would take the bait!" said the eldest brother Liang Tiancheng.

The big snapper that emerged from the water showed no intention of taking the hook, but the group of blue-black ribbon-like pocket fish nearby immediately swayed and swam over when they saw the big snapper.

The scene of calling friends and jumping for joy was like shouting excitedly, "A big customer is coming!"

After approaching, the doctor fish did not immediately stick to the big snapper, but instead floated in the water and swung its tail, performing an underwater dance in front of the big snapper.

Obviously, this is a kind of prior communication.

After a very brief dance, the doctor fish moved closer and began to stick close to the big snapper, pecking at it and removing the debris stuck on its body.

The big red snapper also immediately entered a state of comfort, keeping itself motionless and opening its mouth of its own accord.

This state of comfort did not last long.

Suddenly, the big red snapper twitched violently a few times, and its temperament changed drastically in an instant. It turned its head towards the school of doctor fish in angrily, opened its mouth, and started biting and swallowing the doctor fish wildly!
Liang Ziqiang and the others who were fishing quietly were stunned.

What about the agreed upon tacit understanding?

"What do you mean by holding the grass? You're repaying kindness with evil!" Deng Zhaocai, who had been sitting nearby bored, suddenly became interested and threw away the grass stem in his hand and said in surprise.

Liang Ziqiang and the others also stared at the water in astonishment.

A strange scene appeared in the school of doctor fish. Most of the doctor fish were stunned by the bite and forgot how to hide, allowing the big snapper to swallow them.

There were only four or five doctor fish, as if they had foreseen this. They swayed their bodies with the same blue background and black stripes, and turned around and ran away with great agility, jumping into the water nearby.

Looking at the big snapper again, there were actually trickles of blood oozing out of its body and spilling into the water.

Liang Ziqiang couldn't help but groan, and finally understood what happened:
"This isn't a case of repaying a favor with a vengeance. This big snapper was attacked first!"

"Isn't it said that doctor fish only eat the dirt on big fish? Daring to bite the big fish, isn't that seeking death?" Li Liang asked puzzledly.

"It's not the doctor fish that bit them. There are people trying to take advantage of the situation!" Liang Ziqiang pointed at the small "doctor fish" that had not escaped far.

Wherever there are doctors, there are illegal practitioners who sell fake medicine under the guise of selling fake medicine.

There is a small fish called "three-banded shield-tooth blenny (wei)", which is almost exactly the same as the split-lip fish in appearance, texture and swimming posture.

The cleaver fish approached the big fish to provide cleaning and physiotherapy services, but the shield-toothed blenny is quite different. They don't understand what cleaning services are at all, and they pretend to be doctor fish to approach the big fish. The only purpose is to take advantage of the big fish's relaxation of vigilance, tear off a piece of tender meat with their mouths, and immediately escape!

This kind of fish has been relying on this dirty trick to fill its stomach and grow big.

The pattern of the Shieldtooth Blenniformes is very deceptive and ordinary fish cannot distinguish it at all. The only slight difference is that the lower lip of the Shieldtooth Blenniformes is slightly shorter than that of the real doctor fish.

At this moment, this group of real doctor fish were stunned for a moment after being suddenly and madly attacked by the big snapper.

But there were still some sharp-eyed doctor fish among them, which spotted those "illegally practicing medicine" people who turned around and fled first.

In an instant, everything became clear.

Liang Ziqiang and his friends had no idea how these small fish communicated with each other. The next moment, all the doctor fish moved collectively, all excited and working together, chasing after the escaped shield-tooth blenny.

Chasing here, fleeing there, watching the fake doctors being chased further and further away, they were actually driven away...

"Fuck! They can actually launch a defensive war? Such small fish, do they have brains?!" Lin Baixian was stunned.

"They may be small, but in terms of brains, they may have more than you!" Liang Ziqiang made an insult to him.

In fact, the behavior and thinking of both the real doctor fish and the fake doctor blenny are a mystery.

According to what he saw on the ocean show, the cleaverfish can actually pass the mirror test, that is, it can recognize itself in the mirror.

There are very few creatures that can pass the mirror experiment, except for humans themselves.

How the tiny doctor fish, as a lowly creature, can do this is unexplainable.

The real and fake doctor fish chased and fled away; the big snapper also went back into the reef in anger.

It is estimated that this big snapper is traumatized and will never accept the "physical therapy" services of the doctor fish again.

Liang Ziqiang and the others also withdrew their gaze and continued fishing.

After a while, Liang Ziqiang caught the second purple snapper after catching several red snappers in a row.

"Dad, what kind of snapper is this?!"

On the side, Liang Tiancheng's voice came with a hint of excitement.

Liang Ziqiang turned his head and saw that the fish his elder brother had caught was completely different from most of the red snappers he had caught before. It was a bright yellow fish!
In the bright yellow, there are four equally bright blue lines.

"Isn't this a four-line snapper? Put it away quickly. It's not cheap. It should be about the same price as a red snapper!" Liang's father took a look and immediately answered his eldest son.

After a while, Liang Ziqiang and Li Liang also caught a four-line snapper.

Liang Ziqiang took the fish off the hook and put it in the bucket. Compared with the red snapper, this fish has a different taste, but it looks good anyway.

Of course, it is not as good as some top-quality ornamental fish. But the key is that snapper fish is not only good-looking, but also very delicious, which is rare. Otherwise, it would not be sold at such a good price.

Next, we caught a steady stream of red snappers. It was clear that the island had the most red snappers.

Among the large number of red snappers, there are occasionally one or two purple snappers and four-line snappers. Zhu Tianpeng, Lin Baixian and others also caught four-line snappers.

The catch was so abundant that time seemed to pass by so quickly. Before we knew it, it was already noon.

Liang Ziqiang and his friends stopped fishing, went back to bed to make lunch, and looked at the wooden boat on the sea.

"Old Xie! Do you want to drive over and have lunch together?!"

Father Liang opened his voice and shouted at Old Xie on the sea.

But Old Xie raised the big bowl in his hand, obviously he had already started eating:
"I'm not hungry, I've already cooked and started eating!"

Liang Ziqiang was stunned by the bowl. What a huge bowl! You could even say that Old Xie was eating with a bowl in his hand. His appetite was really scary.

I always thought that the owner of the Piaomu Island Oyster Farm was very lucky to have met a person like Lao Xie who knew how to repay his kindness.

At this moment, Liang Ziqiang inexplicably had a new idea. It was not easy for the farm owner to support Old Xie...

After dinner, Old Xie was not just looking for electric rays for himself. He rocked the boat and looked for something on the sea. From a distance, Liang Ziqiang saw him scoop up a few fish and bring them to the boat, but they didn't look like electric rays.

Liang Ziqiang and his friends were also racing against time. After finishing their meal and putting down their bowls, they ran back to the reef without taking a breath and continued fishing.

(Three pictures of real and fake cleaverfish and four-line snapper have been posted in the comment section below.)
(End of this chapter)