1983Fishing and Farming between Mountains and Seas

Chapter 84 The Deadly Stingray (To be updated!)
Liang Ziqiang understood Zifeng's question to some extent. He had heard about the problem of freshwater fish becoming salty before, but he didn't expect to encounter it today, and a salty carp of this size!
"Freshwater fish in fish ponds and rivers, when washed into the sea, generally cannot stand the salt water in the sea. They either try to escape back to the inland river or die. But some fish still find ways to adapt to the sea water.

For example, some carp will slowly try to change themselves and adapt to the saltwater environment. This relatively rare phenomenon is called salinization!" Liang Ziqiang explained to him.

"So, if the salted carp continue to reproduce from generation to generation, wouldn't that add a new species to the ocean?"

“No, as it becomes salty, it also completely loses its ability to reproduce. So, just like the fish in front of you, it must have been washed out of the river and it is impossible for it to reproduce in the ocean.

It is because they have lost their reproductive ability that they start to grow wildly in the seawater. Otherwise, it would be very difficult to grow to a size of 40 to 50 kilograms!"

After listening to Liang Ziqiang's detailed explanation, Liang Zifeng finally understood what was going on.

"What Aqiang said is almost right. It's basically like that!" Liang's father agreed.

However, after he finished speaking, a worried expression appeared on his face:

"The salted fish tastes good, without the rotten mud and earthy smell of fish that grow in fresh water. If I sell this fish, it won't be a problem to sell it for more than 30 yuan!
But this is a carp after all! It's so big, I'm afraid it's all in vain, I should release it..."

Fishermen in this area have a kind of awe complex towards carp. Small carp are better, especially large carp, in their eyes, they are "little dragons".

This giant carp weighing forty or fifty kilograms in front of you must be a real "little dragon", right?
Although Liang's father knew very well rationally that this fish was just a small carp in the river, which was washed into the sea and became salty, and grew so big.

But some consciousness engraved in our bones cannot be explained clearly.

Liang's father was reluctant to give up the dozens of dollars he had just gotten, but he also didn't have the courage to accept the fish. He was greedy and cowardly, and it was all written in his eyes.

Liang Ziqiang looked at his father's tangled face and felt sorry for him...

In fact, when I was a child, my school teacher specifically gave the example of carp in order to help us break some feudal ideas.

It is said that before the Tang Dynasty, carp did not have any special color. It was just like grass carp, crucian carp and other fish, and people enjoyed eating them!

Until the Tang Dynasty, because the emperor's family all had the surname "Li", they played a homophonic pun, fearing that people all over the world eating "Li fish" would be bad for their family, so they made up so many allusions for carp and asked people to release carp...

Of course, teachers have their own research and folks have their own ideas. Liang Ziqiang really can't explain this.

He just felt that, looking at his father's condition, if he let the carp go, he would probably be heartbroken for a long time;

But if I don't release it and sell it, then it won't be a question of whether I feel heartbroken or not. I guess my father will have nightmares for a long time...

In this case, he advised his father:

"Dad, don't hesitate. If you want to release him, you'd better do it as soon as possible!"

He looked at the carp's big mouth opening and closing, and was really afraid that if he released it a little later, the fish would be gone!
After hearing this, Liang's father stopped worrying and quickly carried the fish with Liang Ziqiang, serving the fish respectfully as if it were a master, and came to the boat and put it back into the water.

While releasing the animals, Liang Ziqiang heard him muttering something, such as "praying for prosperity" and so on, and he said a lot!

There were no incense or firecrackers on the boat today, otherwise Liang Ziqiang would have thought it would be another grand occasion...

After releasing the giant carp, Liang's father felt relieved and clapped his hands:

"Although I made a few dozen dollars less, releasing animals will bring good luck. Maybe more money will come to my door soon!"

Well, my dad is quite good at comforting himself.

After releasing the animals, the father and his sons turned the boat around and headed back.

As it turned out, it seemed that my father’s “prediction” was correct.

We hadn't set out far when a few big fish appeared.

After catching it, we found it was a catfish, and it was not a sea catfish. A careful inspection showed that it was a freshwater catfish that was washed into the sea from the river and adapted to the seawater environment.

Catfish have a stronger ability to adapt to the environment than carp, so it is not surprising that they are salinized. It is estimated that in this area where rivers and seas are mixed, there are more salinized catfish than salinized carp.

After the carp was released, the catfish no longer felt any psychological pressure and accepted the food with a smile.

The combined efforts of several salted catfish just made up for the loss of the giant carp.

Liang's father also felt more balanced: "Officially closing the net, no more, go home!"

Liang Ziqiang began to collect the fishing nets into the cabin.

Only half of it was received when a few splashes of water appeared not far to the side.

"Oh my god, carp really sent a gift to my door?!"

Liang Ziqiang looked carefully and saw a big fish that was as big as a giant carp, splashing water.

This fish has a very strange shape. It is flat and looks like a giant bat swimming in the water.

Well, it would be more accurate to say that it looks like a round and flat flying saucer rather than a bat.

Although it looks strange, this fish is familiar to fishermen.

"A stingray?!" Even Liang Zifeng recognized it at first sight and shouted loudly. The main reason was that its wide and flat shape was too different from that of ordinary marine fish.

Liang's father and Liang Ziqiang also thought of the stingray as their first reaction. He was just a little surprised:
"This isn't too far out to sea, where do the rays come from?"

The place where they are most abundant in stingrays is the deep sea. Of course, they can sometimes encounter some stingrays in the areas where they usually fish.

But this place is so close to the shore, and it is also the area where the river and the sea meet, it is almost impossible for manta rays to survive in such a place.

Unlike the anchovies we caught earlier, rays don’t like the mixture of salt and fresh water! “Could it be a beach ray?” Liang’s father guessed.

Liang Ziqiang felt that this was the only explanation, and the beach stingray made more sense.

While talking, he did not relax at all. The fishing boat sped up towards the direction where the manta ray was swimming.

Liang's father still had a perfect grasp of the timing. Before the manta ray became alert, he cast the fishing net quickly and accurately!
There was almost no suspense, the stingray was caught in the net. After hitting it with one strike, Liang's father began to pull the net.

Liang Zifeng nervously reminded:

"Be careful, I heard that some rays have electric tails!"

Father Liang didn't stop his actions and rolled his eyes at his youngest son:
"I told you to study hard but you didn't, you're just a half-baked person! You're talking about an electric ray, a beach ray, where does your electricity come from?!"

The fish was gradually pulled out of the water and lifted onto the bow of the boat. As expected, its weight was comparable to that of the giant carp.

The beach stingray was famously gentle, and it was flapping its body at this moment, but not violently.

Not only are they gentle, but many stingrays also have a friendly and magical "smiling face." Of course, they are not really smiling, they just look like that naturally.

Just like the beach ray in the fishing net, it smiled at Liang Ziqiang and the others with an ambiguous smile...

But for some reason, this "smile" actually made Liang Ziqiang's hair stand on end.

After taking another closer look, this inexplicable sense of crisis became even more obvious.

"That's not right. This seems to be a little different from the beach ray?"

Father Liang was originally planning to take the beach stingray from the net, but he took another look and stopped immediately:
"Hey, what kind of ray is this?"

It is not a beach ray, but it appeared not too far from the shore. Are there such ray in the world?

Father Liang was confused for a moment.

A peculiar disc-like shape, a natural "smiley face", a special area where salt water and fresh water mix at the junction of the river and the sea...

Suddenly, something flashed through his mind, and Liang's father pulled Liang Ziqiang back a step:
"That's not a ray, it's probably a stingray?!"

Compared to rays, stingrays are less common.

Stingray, also known as red stingray, is completely different from the stingray that people often talk about, but their appearance is extremely similar!

Not only the appearance, but also the iconic "smiley face" is a feature they share with stingrays.

When Liang Ziqiang and his crew go out to sea, they sometimes encounter manta rays, but rarely stingrays.

This is also the reason why the father and son never thought about the stingray at all!

However, manta rays only live in the ocean, but stingrays also like fresh water. Where there are rivers and seas, the probability of their appearance will be slightly higher...

No wonder he appeared in a place like this.

The biggest difference between stingrays and rays is the long tail behind them. Although it is not electrified like the electric ray, it is poisonous!

There are poison glands on the tail, and the venom can cause severe pain and whole body spasms. If it pierces the chest, there is basically no hope of saving it...

Stingrays are very funny and love to join in the fun. They have been spotted at several scenic spots abroad. Whenever there are beauties swimming or taking photos in shallow water, they appear excitedly, lying on the backs of these beauties, making sneak attacks and stealing the spotlight.

I guess it didn't mean any harm and just thought it was funny, but because of that tail, the "funny" later became "death"...

At this moment, when Liang Ziqiang heard his father say the word "stingray", he suddenly remembered the news he had seen by chance in his previous life. Looking at the slight differences in the details from the manta ray, he was sure that this was the extremely rare stingray!

"This... do you still want it?" Now it was Liang Ziqiang's turn to hesitate.

"Why not? Stingrays are rare, but it's not like no one has caught them in the past few decades. Hurry up and cut off the tail. You can sell it for a good price!"

Once you determine what kind of fish it is, it will be easier to deal with.

Liang's father took out an iron chisel, aimed it at the center of the stingray's head, and hammered it in.

I'm completely dizzy.

Then he raised the knife and decisively cut it at the uppermost part of the tail. The higher it was, the safer it was, as there would be no venom glands or venom.

After removing the tail, the stingray still tastes good and has good nutritional value!

This stingray is worth as much as that salted carp...

Liang Ziqiang stood on the boat and counted. With a few big catfish and the stingray, the harvest was already twice as much as the carp.

It’s true, a big gift was given to me in the blink of an eye!
In this day and age, if you let something go, will the rewards come so quickly?

Of course, they rarely set foot in this area where the river meets the sea, and they are not so sure about the price of the special fish that live in a mixture of salty and fresh water. After all, this small river is several miles farther than the Huagu River, and other villagers live on the river bank. The people of Pomfret Village don't need to come here specifically to find fish.

If I hadn’t planned to take a trip in advance today, I would never have thought of going near Xiaojiang!

How much this trip is actually worth, we have to go to Zheng Liu to sell the goods to find out...

The second update is here! The third chapter will be released soon. (The next page has Easter egg pictures. The top picture is a stingray attacking and stealing the spotlight. The bottom picture is a freshwater fish growing wildly in the salty sea.)
On the first day of the release, book friends rushed together! Thank you for your recommendation votes, monthly votes, subscriptions, rewards, and wonderful praise! Stable updates, please vote, subscribe, and reward, welcome to read the latest chapters!

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(End of this chapter)