"Huh? There's a little one on its back, too."
Ye Yaodong put it on the deck and watched its mouth opening and closing. Why did it look so familiar?
"Holy shit, this is a toadfish!"
He studied it for a moment and instantly realized what it was. No wonder that stalk on its head looked so familiar, and its face looked so much like a toadfish's. This was a damn toadfish.
The toadfish they usually saw were brown. This one was black, so it was no wonder they hadn't recognized it at first.
"A toadfish? Aren't toadfish all brown?"
"There are black ones, too. They're rarer, a different variety. Disgusting. That gaping mouth is still moving. It's not quite dead yet. I'll whack it with a club and kill it first."
They generally killed any large fish they hauled aboard first, in case it suddenly thrashed and injured someone while still alive.
They hadn't recognized this fish earlier, so their curiosity had kept them from doing anything for a moment.
Once it was dead, Father Ye tried to remove the little one on its back, only to find it stuck fast. By his estimate, the little one was only three or four centimeters long.
Ye Yaodong explained, "That tiny one is the male. The big one underneath is the female."
When a male toadfish encountered a female, it would become a parasite, attached to her for life until death. In everyday terms, it lived off its woman!
Toadfish was what the locals called it. Its official name was anglerfish, also known as the lute fish, a carnivorous fish that lived near the coastal seabed and was generally most abundant in winter and spring.
Their bodies were shaped like short cones, but their heads were broad and flat, making them look