Golden Fishing Village

Chapter 504 507. Side Dishes (15)

Mud snails, also known as spit iron, are commonly known as wheat snails, plum snails, and mud boards.

Ao Muyang had encountered some mud snails under the sea before. He specially fished them out and made them into side dishes to go with his wine. As a result, he was captured by a smuggling gang and taken to Brick Island just after he finished collecting the mud snails.

It can be said that mud snails once played a very iconic role in his life.

This kind of snail is common on the seashore. There is only one species in the world. It is widely distributed along the north and south coasts of China. They live less on the seabed and mainly live on the muddy beach in the intertidal zone of the inner bay. They will appear once the tide recedes.

Professor Li Ji knew what mud snails looked like without Ao Muyang's introduction.

He stood with his hands behind his back and looked down at the mud and sand under his feet with great interest, saying, "Look, the water quality here is good, and there are mud snails living here. They are extinct in many places."

Ao Muyang dug with his hands and got a mud snail, saying, "Is it that serious? Mud snails are not very strict about their habitat."

There have always been mud snails on the offshore mudflats in Anzhou County. According to Lao Ao's memory, he has been eating these little things since he was a child, so he is a little tired of eating them.

For these children from fishing families, mud snails in childhood are like pickles in the farmer's jar. They can be seen in every household, every year and every day.

Just like farmers pair pickles with porridge and steamed buns, locals will scoop out a bowl of mud snails from the jar every time they reach a season when vegetables are scarce. It can be pickled with wine and salt, which is very tasty and suitable for eating with rice.

In addition, mud snails are better than pickles in that they can be eaten with wine. In the past, this was one of the eight delicacies of cold dishes!

As he was talking, he found two mud snails. The shell of this thing is oval and looks very thin. It seems that it can be crushed with a light pinch of the hand.

The shell is green and white, with a large shell mouth and fine rings and vertical lines on the shell surface. Unlike ordinary snails, the body of the mud snail cannot be completely retracted into the shell.

In this way, when Ao Muyang caught the mud snails, their bodies twisted hard outside the shell, unlike other snails that would retract into the shell after being frightened.

He took it up to show Li Ji, and Li Ji smiled and nodded: "Well, it looks familiar."

Then he said: "Look at the mud snails here, they are very fat, and the mud snails in some places in Hongyang are skinny, that's because the big ones have been caught."

"Are many people catching them?" While talking, Ao Muyang found two more mud snails.

It is very simple to find mud snails. When they crawl, they will mix the mud and sand dug up by their head and feet with the mucus secreted by themselves, and then cover the surface of the body, which looks like a pile of mud and sand.

This is called mimicry protection in natural science, and Ao Muyang just learned this professional term the day before yesterday.

However, this trick can deceive the natural enemies of mud snails in the ocean, but it cannot deceive humans. Instead, it has become a symbolic feature and is easier to be discovered by humans.

Li Ji sighed: "Yes, many people catch them. They are simply jealous of snails. Many people make small-eye trawl nets by themselves, and use screen nets to make such nets. One net can catch all three generations of mud snails. Some people use chemical weapons and spread carbon amine fertilizers on the mudflats. This is a disaster for mud snails!"

Hearing him, Ao Muyang wanted to shiver.

According to news reports and what he saw, Ao Muyang knew that people are now carrying out extinction fishing for marine resources, but he didn't expect it to be so extinct!

Mud snails are not valuable. After all, it is a regional delicacy. It is not easy to store and transport. People don't like to eat it except in coastal areas.

Even so, it is caught in this way. What means will greedy humans develop for some valuable marine creatures?

Fortunately, the area around Longtou Village is relatively closed, and although the villagers want to make money, they don't have any crooked ideas.

The fishermen who have not been baptized by the storm of money are still honest and still adhere to some principles of treating the ocean passed down from generation to generation.

This is the problem that Ao Muyang will face next. He not only has to lead the villagers to get rich, but also ensure that they stick to their original intentions and don't forget their original intentions.

The sea breeze blows gently. Because there are no clouds to block it, the sky is bluer, but it also seems hotter. The sun shines down without any cover, shooting at people like rockets.

Tourists hold up parasols and stroll around the beach. This actually protects the resources on the mudflats to some extent: some of the tourists' energy is spent on holding umbrellas, and they can't concentrate on finding seafood.

Ao Muyang doesn't care about the heat. He scratches a few times with his hands and finds a small handful of mud snails. He throws them into the net bag hanging on his waist and bends down to continue working.

Li Ji is old, and his waist hurts if he bends for a long time.

He looked at Ao Muyang with envy, and Ao Muyang looked at the elementary school students with envy.

Zhu Zhu mingled with the students. She grew slowly and was small because of her illness, so she looked normal among the six, seven, and eight-year-old children.

The children were not afraid of the scorching sun at all. They played happily on the beach like wild rabbits, and their vitality made every adult envious.

The queen suddenly spread her wings and flew over. Some tourists exclaimed after seeing her: "What a big eagle!"

"What is the eagle holding? A fish! Is this an osprey?"

"Nonsense, an osprey is a cormorant, is this a sea eagle?"

The queen flew to the top of Ao Muyang's head and released her claws. A fat mackerel fell to the ground. This poor mackerel probably wanted to go to the sea surface to find food during the low tide, but was caught.

Picking up the big fish that was still struggling, Ao Muyang smiled and said, "Teacher Li, we have something to go with wine at noon today. I'll make you a pan-fried mackerel, which is absolutely delicious."

Li Ji looked delighted: "Okay."

The queen flew to the distant sea, and some tourists kept paying attention to and discussing it:

"Someone is raising an eagle? This is amazing."

"Mom, I want to raise an eagle too. Don't let grandpa raise a parrot. Let's raise an eagle."

"Oh, what did this sea eagle catch? A sea snake!"

"Go aside, get out of the way, all sea snakes are poisonous!"

The queen flew back with a 'snake'-like creature with a flat tail and a length of 1.23 meters hanging in her claws.

The sun shone on this creature, shining silver!

Ao Muyang took a closer look and then laughed: "What sea snake? It's a hairtail."

Wandering on the beach until ten o'clock, Ao Muyang and Li Ji went home. The next part was the hottest time of the day, so it was not suitable to stay on the beach.

After two and a half hours, the two found a net bag of mud snails, which was enough for two people to eat for a week.

After all, this thing is a side dish, not a main course.

The main course was fresh hairtail and mackerel. Ao Muyang met some curious tourists on the way home: "Wow, hairtail can still come out of the water alive? Don't they live in the deep sea? Don't they die because of the change in water pressure once they come out of the water?"