According to the BBC on July 2, at three o'clock in the middle of the Night on a cold March day, I took a 10-meter fishing boat to the middle of the Sea of Japan. The sea was windy; on the slippery deck of the fishing boat, rubble of wood soaked in kerosene burned in an iron barrel. A flock of screaming seagulls surrounded us and swooped down on our fishing boat from time to time, while a group of fishermen frantically pulled up their nets from the sea to retrieve their salvaged booty before the birds could be retrieved.
Suddenly, a blue fluorescence crossed the surface of the sea, and then thousands of glowing squid were seen squid squiding in the fishing net, illuminating the cold night. This is a sight to be seen during the squid salvage season: every year from March to June, these fluorescent cephalopods illuminate the 14-kilometer coastline of Toyama Bay and stage a spectacular neon show that rivals the neon district of Tokyo's Shinjuku.
Located on the west coast of Japan, 350 kilometers from Tokyo, Toyama Prefecture has been more accessible since the opening of the high-speed railway in March 2015. Toyama Prefecture is one of the few places in the world where you can see this strange creature. During the day, the squid inhabit the dark and deep waters of Toyama Bay. But at night, they float to the surface in search of a mate. This evolutionary phenomenon of fluorescence allows the squid's own fluorescence to fuse with the light that hits the deep ocean, allowing it to pretend to be avoiding predators. The light emitted by a squid from its antennae is very faint, but when thousands of screen squids are gathered together, they can take on a beautiful blue fluorescence, which is definitely one of the most fascinating and colorful wonders on earth.
To learn more about these marine creatures that glow in the dark, I went to the Squid Museum in Watergawa, Japan, where I learned more about the squid from the interactive exhibitions and research centers there, such as their mating habits and the sustainability of fishing in Japan. At the top of the museum there is a restaurant called Kousai, where you can eat tempura made of squid and see the whole view of Toyama Bay. Inside the museum's extensive souvenir shop, a variety of screen squid products are sold, including freeze-dried screen squid, screen squid powder, canned screen squid and screen squid candy.
If you want to see the squid from the coast, it is difficult to stay up for several nights, and the tides, moonlight and weather conditions are allowed at the same time. A better way is to take a squid tour of the museum and go to the sea to see it. The program runs every year from March to May. The sightseeing cruise ships set sail at 3:00 a.m. every day, driving for about 1-2 hours, and take tourists to the sea where fishermen fish for squid. This excursion is popular, so be sure to book in advance.
Like most marine life in Japan, glowing squid is an economic fish and a seasonal delicacy. Toyama Bay is the third largest bay in Japan and one of the largest seafood distribution centers in the country along with Tokyo and Osaka. Early in the morning, after returning from a sightseeing trip in The Screen Squid, I headed to the seafood market in Wakawa. This market is on a small pier 300 meters from the museum. Here, I witnessed the swift auction of squid, loaded into trucks and shipped to various parts of Japan. The whole auction process, like when fishing for these squids, ended in a frenzy. Presumably to stay fresh, it's the key to the industry's prosperity.
Squid can be eaten in a variety of ways – raw, roasted, stewed or made tempura. However, locals believe that fishing out of the sea and eating the whole thing is the most delicious way to eat it. A fisherman grabbed a squid, removed its eyes, and handed it to me, "Delicious!" ”
I'm not interested in a whole slimy squid. I'm more obsessed with fresh sushi. Sushi from Toyama Bay is well-known throughout Japan. Sasaki Sushi Restaurant is a small shop in Toyama City run by Sasaki and his wife. I tried a variety of fresh sushi and sashimi, and drank a few glasses of local sake. Sasaki's squid sashimi and sashimi are delicious (and not as sticky as the whole squid), but the best is the red snowflake crab, white shrimp, sardines, and tuna from Hokkaido, as well as a little sea urchin, but just as delicious as local products.
Although the sushi is delicious, biofluorescence looks even more wonderful. The dark blue fluorescence emitted by the squid was something I had never seen before, including from other types of luminous creatures.
Scientists and marine biologists are now beginning to deepen their understanding of biofluorescence; these hermit-like animals live on the deep ocean floor, very mysterious. Their presence reveals to us that even in the darkest corners of the earth, there are dots of starlight waiting to be discovered.