My Deep-sea Fishery

"This is the Antarctic sea lion? It's so cute." Someone's eyes lit up, "Who knows that this thing is a protected animal? If not, I will find a way to catch it."

"The ones that rank high on the IUCN Red List, do you think they are protecting animals?" Someone asked.

The person who started the question immediately fell silent.

Although Antarctica does not belong to any country, it does not mean that it is a no-nonsense zone.

To be precise, Antarctica is a piece of fat that everyone covets, and everyone wants to take a bite of it.

"Although its name is Antarctic fur sea lion, it is actually a fur seal." Xiang Yang explained: "As early as 1775, Captain Cook arrived at South Georgia Island while exploring the Antarctic. Lots of fur seals."

"And even if this thing is not a mammal, it is not so easy to catch. It doesn't need to bite you, it just needs to breathe at you, and you may not see the sun tomorrow." Gao Chuang said to the crew said coldly.

There is a reason why Antarctic fur seals are the smelliest. Tens of millions of bacteria are parasitic in their mouths. Antarctic fur seals can be immune to these bacteria, but other creatures do not have that immune function.

If you're lucky and don't encounter deadly bacteria, even if you get bitten by an Antarctic fur seal, it's just a wound infection.

But if you are unlucky, it can directly lead to a plague.

The Antarctic curly sea lion is a living biological weapon.

"The two Antarctic curly-haired sea lions, one big and one small, should be mother and son. It's strange. If I remember correctly, fur seals and sea lions live in groups. Why are the two orphans and widows together here? "Fang Youqun was puzzled.

Xiang Yang smiled, "This is not a mother and child, and the little one is not a little Antarctic curly sea lion either."

"The body length of a normal Antarctic curly sea lion cub will not exceed 70 centimeters. Once it exceeds 70 centimeters, it will almost be able to move independently."

"Look at the big one. It's about two meters long. It must be a male curly-haired sea lion. As for the small one, it's a female."

Male Antarctic curly sea lions can grow up to two meters in length and weigh between 100 and 300 kilograms. Females are generally about 1.4 meters in length and weigh between 30 and 60 kilograms. There is a huge difference in size between husband and wife, so in the eyes of those who don't know it, it is easy to mistake the female sea lion for a baby sea lion.

"And the average life expectancy of male Antarctic curly sea lions and female Antarctic curly sea lions is also very different. According to scientific statistics, the life span of female sea lions is about twice as long as that of male Antarctic curly sea lions," said a captain.

Xiang Yang nodded, affirming what the captain said, "This is related to the living habits of Antarctic curly sea lions. Male Antarctic curly sea lions almost only feed on Antarctic krill. The food nutrition they ingest is too monotonous, which seriously affects The lifespan of the male Antarctic curly sea lion, although the female Antarctic curly sea lion also eats Antarctic krill as the staple food, but it sometimes eats some Antarctic fish and squid, and sometimes they go to the shore to prey on penguins or leopard seal cubs cub."

At this time, the larger one of the two Antarctic curly-haired sea lions under the water suddenly stretched its head, and drilled its head into the ice cave, as if it wanted to pass through the ice cave and climb onto the ice surface .

"Hehe, this ice cave is very smooth and deep, it is impossible for it to climb up." Xiang Yang laughed.

Sure enough, after working hard for a while, the Antarctic curly-haired sea lion immediately gave up in dejection.

Then, its eyeballs stared at the top of the ice cave for a while, then suddenly dived into the water, and then disappeared.

"It should be gone, let's continue fishing for Antarctic krill." Gao Chuang took off his leather gloves, lit a cigarette, took a deep puff, and then exhaled hot air mixed with smoke.

Xiang Yang nodded. In fact, the Antarctic curly sea lions are also very pitiful. Don't look at these two carefree appearances under the water. In fact, they are in an awkward position in the entire Antarctic biosphere.

They are in the food chain, just one level higher than penguins, and both killer whales and leopard seals like to hunt them.

The most important thing is that every spring, Antarctic curly sea lions will concentrate on South Georgia Island for breeding, and at that time, it will attract a large number of leopard seals.

However, leopard seals that can easily kill Antarctic curly sea lions do not like to eat Antarctic curly sea lions, or only eat the internal organs of Antarctic curly sea lions. A leopard seal can often kill more than a dozen Antarctic curly sea lions a day Curly sea lion.

Xiang Yang turned his head and looked in the direction of the ice cave dug by his crew, just in time to see several crew members struggling to drag out a ground cage from the ice cave.

There are so many Antarctic krills under this ice floe that even if you use a water spoon to scoop it up, half a spoonful can be scooped up at a time.

Every time the ground cage is placed under the ice cave, and then brought up again, there will be at least one or two hundred catties of Antarctic krill inside. The speed of getting money is really very fast.

At this moment, Xiang Yang heard another exclamation.

"Look, take a quick look."

"Sea lion."

"It's the two Antarctic curly-haired sea lions under the ice cave just now."

"They're coming up on the ice floe."

Xiang Yang turned his head to look at the edge of the ice floe.

Sure enough, on the edge of the ice floe, two Antarctic curly-haired sea lions, one big and one small, were lying on their stomachs.

The heads of the two Antarctic curly sea lions are very much like a milk dog without long ears, and their necks are a bit like alpacas. At the moment, they are relying on their two front flippers to support their entire bodies, stretching their necks, looking at them curiously. The crew members who are going to work on the ice.

That cute and cute look made many crew members want to run over and join Zhang Ying with them.

"Everyone stay where they are, and don't get close to those two Antarctic curly-haired sea lions." Xiang Yang shouted to his crew, and after he finished shouting, he gave Fang Youqun a special look who was about to move.

Although fur seals rarely attack humans, Antarctic curly sea lions are a kind of fur seal and are rated as harmless creatures by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, but their mouths, which look like biochemical weapons, are too terrifying.

Gao Chuang was still a childlike innocence. On the one hand, he asked the captains to take good care of their subordinates and not allow the crew to get close to the two sea lions. On the other hand, he asked everyone if there were any sea urchins in the cabins of the fleet.

Xiang Yang was quite speechless, probably because Boss Gao saw that the two Antarctic curly-haired sea lions were cute, so he wanted to tease the two Antarctic curly-haired sea lions with sea urchins.