Chen Yuan got up very early and went outside after washing. He Fei was collecting the fishing rods and Yang Xun was making breakfast.
"How was the battle last night?" Chen Yuan asked.
"There is no tuna." He Fei added: "But I caught a yellow lip fish."
"Yellow lip fish?"
Yellow-lip fish is a carnivorous fish of the genus Yellow-lip fish in the family Totoidae. It is now a national first-level protected animal in China.
Yellow-lipped fish is distributed along the coasts of the northern South China Sea and the southern part of the East China Sea...
"This is the equator, where did the yellow-lipped fish come from?" Zhou Sheng also walked out.
"It's in the cold storage. Come and have a look. The fish was caught after three o'clock last night." He Fei said.
"The most valuable thing about this kind of fish is the swim bladder." Chen Yuan asked: "If it is returned to China at extremely low temperatures, the value of the swim bladder will be greatly reduced."
"I collected more than 2,000 fish hooks here, but there were only 11 tuna. 8 bigeyes, 2 albacore tuna. There was also a subspecies tuna... The catch was pretty good, mainly because of this group of big tuna.
The boy is big." Gao He said, "Are you going out to look for fish?"
The yellow lip fish is a member of the Totozoidae family.
"Okay, let's split the swim bladder 50-50," Yang Xun said with a smile.
Yang Xun took the fish out, and He Fei took out the fish bladder with a knife.
"I watched people make it on the mother ship before. It was very simple..."
"How's the catch?"
On the mother ship, fish maws are usually dried. However, there is no dryer here, so we can only dry them traditionally.
"The 100-meter-long tuna seine boat is parked at the port. How exciting it is." Luo Laosi said.
"It's done."
This fish should also be a member of the Kingfish family, with a raised back, a wide arc at the ventral edge, a slender tail stalk, a medium-large head, and flat sides...
Chen Yuan sat in the driver's seat and started the fishing boat. Two fishing boats came in from a distance. Zhou Sheng took out the walkie-talkie: "Hey, hey, hey, I heard the reply."
There are many kinds of fish maws, but the five famous fish maws all come from the kingfish. However, not all fish maws from the kingfish are valuable.
The swim bladder of the Kingfish family is generally very developed, and the swim bladder is fish maw, which is one of the Eight Treasures.
I finished setting the fishhook last night and started collecting the fishhook at 6:30 today.
Chen Yuan went over to fill up the rice and add some vegetables. He carried the stainless steel basin to the bow of the boat and looked at the two fishing boats that were recovering fish hooks.
"There are only three complete fish maws."
Chen Yuan smiled and nodded: "Is the meal ready?"
"Open it now?" Yang Xun asked.
Zhou Sheng said again: "Where's Lao Gao?"
"I heard it." Lin Xinhai and Luo Laosi replied together.
"I estimate it weighs just over four hundred pounds. The big-eyed guy's head probably weighs one hundred pounds... It's too much of a loss."
Fortunately, it is a tropical area here and the sun is strong.
"How many fish were caught?"
"It's definitely not a yellow-lipped fish." Chen Yuan said.
After dinner, Yang Xun and the others asked Lin Xinhai how to make isinglass. After figuring it out, Yang Xun and the others went back to sleep.
"Keep the intact isinglass, and use it to give away to others, or take it to my father-in-law in the future," Chen Yuandao said.
“The tuna head is delicious when grilled.”
"Okay. How much isinglass do we have on board?"
When I came to the freezer, I saw a fish that was nearly one meter long and looked at least 70% similar to the yellow lip fish.
Soak the fish maw first.
"After dinner, continue looking for fish."
"Open the fish bladder and see if it's big." Zhou Sheng said.
"It's the Kingfish family that hasn't escaped, but I don't know the species," Chen Yuan said.
He Fei nodded: "I don't know how to make a fish maw."
For smaller and thinner fish bladders, several pieces are stacked together and rolled into a round or belt shape. After drying, they are called round glue or belt glue.
"I estimate it's about forty pounds," Chen Yuan said.
"That's okay."
"Thousands of people are paying attention." Chen Yuan said.
This fish maw has a fishy smell. Soaking it in beer can remove the fishy smell, and it also has a clarifying effect. Using beer as a clarifier will make the fish maw brighter.
“You’ll know once you go in and take a look.”
"The swim bladder of kingfish is inherently expensive. This swim bladder is quite big... But whether it is worth tens of thousands of dollars depends on the quality of the swim bladder after it is dried. If the quality is good, it will be valuable. What to do with it after that, you ask.
Meet Lin Xinhai, he can make fish maw." Chen Yuandao: "Whether fish maw is expensive or not, the craftsmanship of making isinglass is also very important."
Lin Xinhai smiled and said, "Have you finished your meal?"
"I heard it." Gao congratulated.
The laughter of Lin Xinhai and Luo Laosi also came from the intercom.
Chen Yuan smiled: "Have you caught kingfish?"
"A big-eyed boy that weighs about 400 kilograms just came in," Lin Xinhai said.
"It seems that we need to use beer to improve the clarity of the fish maw." Zhou Sheng looked at Chen Yuan: "Have you ever made a fish maw?"
"good."
"Not many. Is the kingfish caught by Yang Xun and the others big?"
The swim bladder was indeed quite large, more than ten centimeters in length, and the swim bladder was thick. After cleaning it, Chen Yuan helped cut open the swim bladder, peeled off the inner and outer membranes, then brought beer, washed it again with beer, and soaked it.
The fish belly is golden.
"How big?"
"Isinglass is expensive everywhere. If there is too much, it is not worth it."
Chen Yuan and the others also sailed around in boats, so it was easy to dry them in the sun.
"This swim bladder is pretty good, costing at least several thousand, or even tens of thousands of dollars." Chen Yuan said.
"It seems to be the yellow-lip fish. He Fei has caught it before, and it looks similar to the yellow-lip fish." Yang Xun turned his head and said.
Chen Yuan couldn't see clearly...
Chen Yuan shouted: "Master, how many fishhooks have you collected?"
And the sides of the fish belly are darker in color...
"It's very simple." Chen Yuan said: "Wash it clean and peel off the inner and outer layers of film. This fish is big, and the swim bladder should also be big. It can be dried separately to make sheet glue."
"I estimate it to be forty or fifty pounds."
"Five or six pounds."
"Yes. But they are not big. They can only be made with glue. The kingfish, which weighs about 40 pounds, is relatively rare here."
"Come on, our target is the 100-meter purse seine boat." Takao Kojima.
Lin Xinhai said 'hmm' and suddenly said: "There are big fish outside, I'll go out and take a look."
“Is there any intact isinglass?”
"not yet."
"More than a thousand."
The Totozoidae are characterized by short first dorsal and anal fins and well-developed mucus tubes on the head. They are widely distributed and mainly inhabit tropical and subtropical seas. They are found in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. There are 70 genera and 270 genera in the world. There are 14 genera and 31 species in my country...
The two fishing boats are far apart.
"We'll leave soon." Zhou Sheng said.
"So expensive?"
"A four-hundred-pound big-eyed boy is a rare commodity." Gao He said.
"Hahaha……"
A 100-meter-long tuna seine boat can be maneuvered if you think about it. But it is not easy to operate such a big boat. But it is difficult and challenging, and that is interesting.
Now it is too far to think about a tuna purse seine boat that is 100 meters away. Let’s do the work in front of us first.
Chen Yuan marked three points on the chart. It was Zhou Sheng's turn to sail the ship, and Chen Yuan went back to get the drone...