CHAPTER 63 SEABED TREASURE HUNTING

Su Jing picked up the huge shells and looked at it back and forth. It is about 25 centimeters long and weighed about 5 jin. It can only be taken by two hands. The shell is thick and looks like a dish. The left side of the shell is slightly raised. The right side of the shell is relatively flat. The front is slightly raised and the back process disappears into a round blunt shape. The shell surface is brown, the scales on the top of the shell are compact and the scales on the back edge of the shell are obviously free.

"This seems to be Pinctada Maxima." Su Jing's eyes became brighter and brighter. Pinctada maxima, also known as the big pearl oyster and the mother of all Pearl oyster, belongs to the tropical and subtropical marine bivalves and is a unique species of pearl oyster in the South China Sea. Its pearl reserves account for about 90% of the total reserves of all kinds of Pearl shellfish in Hainan Province. The pearls produced are of great particle size, good color, and high price. They are precious ornaments and medicinal materials. They are very popular in the international pearl market and have very high economic value.

However, because of its small number and high value, it is classified as a national level II protected animal and prohibited from catching.

"Little Hu, where did you find this Pinctada Maxima?" Su Jing asked that as he didn't want to break the Pinctada Maxima to see if there were pearls in it, because he didn't want to kill it. After all, it was a national class II protected animal. It is said that some people are skilled enough to open the shells and take out the pearls and the shells can survive, but that technique is no doubt as difficult as surgery. Su Jing admits that he does not have that level. Moreover, there is a great chance that pearls are bred from wild shells. The possibility of pearls in this shell is not more than one percent.

"Over there." Killer whale turned and called out to the sea.

"Take me with you." Su Jing took his net bag and diving goggles and jumped on the back of killer whale, which then sped away with Su Jing on the waves for about 20 minutes, away from the coast of Su Family Village and near an uninhabited island, which had many small islands in the sea area that had not been exploited.

When the uninhabited island was about 300 meters away, the killer whale called a reminder to Su Jing, then plunged into the sea and dived quickly. Even with Su Jing's physical fitness, he quickly felt his chest compress and he felt unusually uncomfortable. People are not fish and it is difficult to withstand the rapid changes in water pressure.

"Slow down." Su Jing patted the killer whale and squeezed out two words in a breath. The Killer whale slows down its speed and dived slowly, 10 meters, 15 meters, 20 meters… The average person feels their ears tingling and faced breathing difficulties at 10 meters depth, some professional divers can dive down to 15 meters, even 20 Meter. The limit of dive is the limit of people's resistance to water pressure and it is also the limit against the physiological function of the body.

In January 2000, A Cuban Diver, Francisco Ferreras set a 162-meter freediving record at the Gulf of Mexico without air bottles and adjusted his breath by his own lung capacity.

Su Jing's current physical fitness is definitely far beyond ordinary people, so he slowly dives to more than 20 meters and still did not feel much and this continues until the depth of 50 meters or so and even then he only felt a little uncomfortable.

Su Jing looked through the goggles to the bottom of the sea and found that it was the geological reef of the rocky reef, with a small number of seabed plants and a lot of Pinctada Maxima were there, some were crawling, some were dead, lying quietly on the bottom of the sea.

Su Jing directed killer whale close to the bottom of the sea and opened a huge Pinctada Maxima in front. It was empty and turned over several times. Finally, He saw a pearl with a diameter of about 10 mm lying inside, but he could see it with the naked eye. It is not very round and the color is average.

Su Jing continued his search by going up periodically to breath and then he came down again and resumed his search. He found pearls one after another. Some of them were good or bad. Some of them were worth thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan.

"Wow, it's big." Su Jing suddenly saw a shell which was more than 30 centimeters long, he let the killer whale swim with him and opened it. Inside it lay a white pearl with a diameter of more than fifteen millimeters. It was very round, shiny, and he could not see a single flaw in it. Although Su Jing was not knowledgeable, he could see that the Pearl was absolutely valuable.

Su Jing searched again for a while. He searched almost all the nearby Pinctada maxima and found fifty or sixty pearls. Besides the perfect pearl, there were more than a dozen pearls of good quality. Others were very ordinary.

"Let's go and look around."

Su Jing didn't go back right away and he let the killer whale take him around the sea and enjoy the scenery of the sea through his goggles. Although he lives at the seaside, he didn't dive so deep. It was the first time that he could play freely in the deep sea like this.

Su Jing can see all kinds of corals, seaweeds, fish, shellfish, crabs on the seabed. Seabed World can definitely be described as grotesque and strange. Once Su Jing accidentally encountered a cluster of corals. Unexpectedly, the coral suddenly moved, and then a black ink sprayed out, which was originally disguised as an octopus.

Su Jing encounters weird shells, blood corals and other things, and puts them into net bags. This time, he doesn't want to sell them. After all, they are not worth much but want to take them back home for his collection.

Su Jing thought to himself that there were not many ancient wrecks on the sea floor. If he could find one full of ceramics, gold, silver, and jewelry, he would make a lot of money, but unfortunately, none of the wrecks could be found.

"Well? That fish is…"

Su Jing suddenly noticed a fish, a little like some kind of precious fish, but before he could see it clearly, he saw it get into the coral reef.

Su Jing directed killer whale to swim quickly and squeeze into the coral. The fish continued to hide, but Su Jing saw clearly this time and it was a Humphead Wrasse. It had a high raised forehead, like Napoleon's hat, so it was also called "Napoleon".

Humphead Wrasse belongs to Wrasse Species. It is the largest and longest-lived coral fish and can generally live for more than 30 years. For a long time, it has been regarded as an economic fish. Its meat is fresh and tender. It is a famous delicacy. However, due to its small quantity and high price, a Humphead Wrasse can be sold for 200 USD and a plate of the fish lip can be sold to 300 USD.

However, studies in most regions have shown that the population of Humphead Wrasse declined by as much as 90% because of the gradual decline in commercial trade. Many juveniles are caught before reaching reproductive age, resulting in fewer and fewer reproductive adults, and improper fishing practices threaten not only the survival of species but also vulnerable coral reef ecosystems.

Humphead wrasse was listed as an endangered species in International Union for Conservation of Nature in 2004. At the 13th CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) Conference held in October 2004, Humphead Wrasse was listed as CITES APPENDIX II and was strictly protected by CITES Convention.

"Well, it's an endangered species again."

Su Jing still won't break the law because of his great interests, but it's always OK to watch the Humphead Wrasse. Many people only know that Humphead Wrasse is delicious, but they forget that Humphead Wrasse itself is a kind of ornamental fish.

Su Jing controls killer whale to shuttle among coral reefs. Because killer whale is big, it can only pick up places with large gaps. Four or five Humphead Wrasses have been found successively in coral reefs, ranging in size from a few small Jin to a dozen or twenty large jin.

"I am going to go, Is that a Humphead Wrasse, too?"

Su Jing suddenly saw a huge figure with big eyes and directed killer whale to swim quickly.