It was a wonderful feeling to be floating in the Antarctic Sea.
Li Du squatted in front of the ice boat. The wind blew and the sails flapped. The water rippled, and the wind and waves pushed the ice boat forward.
However, no matter how strong the wind was, the boat was very stable.
The ice under the water was so large that it ensured excellent stability. That was one of the reasons people chose to build ships in Antarctica with ice.
Some seagulls flew over their heads. Their bodies were more than half a meter long and had white tails, but their bodies were pale brown and did not look very beautiful.
After flying past a few times, a seagull sneakily looked at the ship a few times and suddenly flew down to grab the belt of a kettle on the ship.
The blue-white belt was blown by the wind and looked like a fish.
Ah Meow narrowed his eyes and suddenly stretched out his paw. He pushed the seagull into the sea and tore off a few feathers.
The seagull quickly came out of the sea and spread its wings. It looked flustered, but it continued to fly around the boat, as if it had not given up.
Sophie raised her camera and took a few pictures. "These seagulls are really bold," she said.
These were seagulls, not ordinary seagulls. As the name suggested, they were predatory. The reason emperor penguins were forced to lay eggs in winter was because of them.
Seagulls liked to steal penguin eggs to eat. Most penguins laid eggs twice a year and could lay three or four eggs. Emperor penguins laid eggs once a year and almost always laid one egg.
In order to protect their offspring, they had to lay eggs in winter and hatch in summer. Because Antarctica was too cold in winter, the seagulls went north for the winter.
The ice boat floated in the Antarctic Sea, surrounded by ice sheets and pieces of floating ice. Seabirds flew overhead, fat penguins in the water and on the ground. Everything was quiet and pleasant.
There was a sudden splash, and then a sea lion poked its head out of the water.
This animal had a huge body and looked like emperor penguins, fat and stupid. However, that was only for their appearance on land. In the sea, they lived up to their name: fierce as a lion, strong as a lion!
Steve reminded them, "Don't provoke sea lions. They are not to be trifled with. These bad-tempered guys can be very scary when they get angry."
As he spoke, he opened a box. There were some herrings in it. He picked one up and threw it into the distance. The sea lions noticed it and swam over.
The Pirate Seagulls also noticed it. These guys were bold and daring. They quickly split into two groups. One group chased after the herring that had fallen into the sea, while the other group pounced on Steve to snatch the fish.
Steve's bodyguards waved their arms to chase the seagulls away. In the distance, the sea lion was also fighting with the seagulls, but it was not so gentle. It suddenly jumped out of the water, opened its mouth wide, and dragged a seagull into the water.
The seagull did not fly again.
It wasn't the only one that didn't fly up. Most of the other seagulls that dove into the sea didn't fly up either. Several sea lions popped their heads out and chewed on the seagulls. Obviously, the seagulls had become their food.
Steve laughed. "Ha, I was lucky too. The herring actually landed in the habitat of a sea lion."
The two ice boats drifted one after the other. Steve did not cast the net, so he did not find any krill.
Li Du was no longer obsessed with catching krill. He sat cross-legged at the bow of the boat, enjoying the tranquility that was rare in other places.
Suddenly, he noticed that the color of the water under the boat had changed. The blue water had turned light brown!
The light brown water appeared so abruptly that he thought they had encountered a strange undercurrent. At this time, Steve shouted, "Krill!"
Hearing his words, Li Du suddenly understood: they had encountered a group of krill!
Krill liked to migrate in groups. When a group floated to the surface of the water, they could cover an area hundreds of meters long and wide. Their population density was very high. There were thirty to forty thousand krill per cubic meter of water, which changed the color of the water.
Li Du asked, "Is it the krill that caused the water to turn brown? Aren't they transparent? Why is it brown? "
"Their bodies are transparent to our eyes, but they are not completely transparent to the sun. There are too many krill, and they block the light from penetrating the water. That's why it turns this color," Steve explained.
Then he shook his head regretfully. "It's a pity that it's daytime. If it were at night, you could see a very beautiful world. This ocean would be fluorescent green! The fluorescent color of the krill is beautiful! "
Once they encountered the krill, they could cast the net.
Krill mate in the Antarctic spring, from October to November. In the summer, they come to the surface in large numbers to lay eggs.
Interestingly, the female krill will lay eggs several times over the next few days, instead of all at once.
Once these eggs leave the mother's body, they immediately sink to the bottom of the sea, where they hatch into larvae and survive on the yolk stored in the egg's yolk sac.
After eating up the yolk, they will float to the surface of the sea to eat phytoplankton.
Therefore, when they cast the net on the surface of the sea, they only caught adult krill. However, adult krill were not very big. The water was very cold, and they grew very slowly. They could grow up to five or six centimeters long.
The two boats each threw a small net, which could be pulled up immediately.
Li Du and Brother Wolf pulled one end each and used all their strength to pull up the net.
It was a simple fling net. It could only catch small fish on the surface of the water. Usually, it was not very useful, but it came in handy here. It was especially suitable for catching krill.
As the fishing net was pulled up, a large pile of krill appeared.
After landing on the ship, these krill jumped up and down. Their vitality was very strong.
"Return immediately," Steve said. "Don't pull them up. Let them soak in the water. Pull them up when we reach the shore."
The krill's digestive tract was very simple. The branching hepatopancreas were digestive glands. Their shells and flesh were transparent, and their internal organs could be seen. The green digestive tract was very eye-catching.
With well-developed digestive glands, krill could secrete large amounts of digestive enzymes. If they died, the enzymes would still be active and would digest the proteins in their bodies.
That was why Steve did not let them pull up the fishing net. They had to try to preserve the krill's vitality.
Brother Wolf grabbed a handful of krill from the fishing net and stuffed a few into his mouth like snacks.
Li Du also took one and ate it. The environment in which krill lived was natural and pollution-free. There were also no heavy metals. They ate green algae, copepods, and other small zooplankton. Their meat was pure and delicious.
The krill meat was cold, very springy, and had a sweet taste. There was no fishy smell at all. It was like a snack in the mouth.
Li Du ate two himself and gave two more to Ah Meow. Ah Meow ate happily and used his claws to catch the krill from the net.
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