But as he rose, he caught sight of what looked like a dense cluster of creatures hiding in a crevice between the rocks out of the corner of his eye.
His legs had already kicked upward, but he hurriedly stopped, turned around in the water, and made his way back to check what they were.
The seabed was murky, and as the sky gradually darkened, the light grew poorer. He had been so focused on freeing the shrimp pots caught on the submerged reef that he had only noticed its bare surface, no longer covered in abalone as it had been last year.
After a moment of regret, he had paid it no more attention.
Now, he somersaulted back and stopped before the crevice between two submerged rocks. He peered inside curiously and was delighted by what he saw.
"Ah!" he exclaimed inwardly.
Soft cuttlefish! Bigfin reef squid!
There was a whole bunch of bigfin reef squid in this crevice.
Bigfin reef squid were known as the "king of squid" and tasted delicious. The largest could grow to three or four kilograms, and locally, they also called them soft cuttlefish.
They liked rocky seabeds, sheltered bends, and places with seaweed.
Their eyes were also the largest in the entire spear squid family, making them rather sensitive to light. By day, they lived fifty meters deep, only swimming into shallow waters a few meters below the surface on moonless nights.
Crustal movements had pushed the submerged reef up here, leaving this stretch only a dozen or so meters deep. Afraid of the light, these soft cuttlefish had hidden in the crevices.
Ye Yaodong really wanted to catch them all, but they were hiding out of easy reach in the crevices. The rocks had rough, uneven surfaces, and if he reached inside,