Ye Yaodong quickened his pace curiously, not even bothering to pick up the cat's eye snail at his feet.
But he had only taken a few steps when he saw a black fish suddenly leap in the pool, and his eyes instantly lit up.
"Is that a black seabream or a black drum?"
He jogged over, but before he could get a proper look at the pool, he spotted an octopus crawling over a reef rock at the edge. Its flailing tentacles moved rapidly as it tried to escape.
"A big red octopus! That fell right into my lap."
Delighted, he opened the burlap sack in his hand and held it against the rock, facing the direction the octopus's tentacles were taking it. He watched it crawl straight into the sack, delivering itself into his trap.
Ye Yaodong shook the sack twice. Seeing that it was still clinging tightly to the opening, he pulled it off with force, tossed it inside, and shook the sack twice more.
Then he leaned over the reef rock to peer into the pool. The tide must have only just gone out, because the pool was still full of seawater. But he could see water steadily draining from a low spot along the edge, and reckoned the level would drop once it had drained for a while.
With so much water still inside, it wasn't a good time to go in and scoop things up. Catching anything would be difficult, and the fish inside were far too slippery to grab easily.
Just as he was planning to keep looking around and come back later, he saw a conger eel slide out with the current through the opening where the water was draining.
The moment the current washed its slender body onto the beach, it paused