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I did some night light fishing off the Fish pier and got a few species of common stuff shiners, herring, etc. and larval percoids. 
May 27 - We are still waiting definite word from Dhahran. This morning was fair and calm ;thus 3 good days are being almost wasted. Saif, the pearl diver, on the Tarut recovered my eel pot this morning and it contained two 25 & 26 cm. groupers, [[underline]] E. tauvina [[/underline]], and one black [[underline]] Plesiops [[/underline]] and an [[underline]] Apogon thurstoni [[/underline]]. I gave the groupers to Saif as a bakseesh.   I left on the "Tarut" with crew at 9:45 A.M. sky almost clear with light cirrus clouds and light easterly airs. Slightly stronger south easterly breeze came up around 10:30 A.M. ,but remained light.  We trolled around the pier (east) and out near buoy #7 with 7 lines one with 1 lb. wgt. We trolled thru a couple of schools of [[underline]] Jibab [[/underline]] and we didn't even get a nibble. It was the worst time I have seen yet.  We headed into port about 12:15 P.M. The grotesque thing below is an attempt to give an idea of the approximate color distribution of [[underline]] Lethrinus nebulosus [[/underline]] which is very common here and turn dark brown to blackish when it is put in formalin. [[image amongst words: a fish, which the previous and following sentences describe]] All colors except the purple blue spots on the head are rather diffuse and indistinct. Blue (light steel color) is found on the top sides interspersed with indistinct yellow or golden. Indistinct black bands appear at will.
This afternoon, after telephone calls, and various people coming aboard, we got underway to Tarut upper Bay. Then the crew wanted water ,and we store in the sides of the boat port side on a pipe barge off west pier. When they got water ,the tiller rope ceased  to work (it became slack ,hence another delay). We got going about 6 P.M. with moderate easterly winds. 
The Tarut went aground just beyond Za'al (Shmayly) Id. and 
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it was so late and the Palestine was going so slow that we went back to Zaal to anchor for the night. We all fished over the side with the night light, and the new specimens were 36 [underline]] Dermogenys [[/underline]] (?) [[insertion]] [[underline]] Hemiramphus far [[/underline]] [[/insertion]] small halfbeaks with large orange tan ventral fins far aft near the anal, and they stuck out like large pectorals and gave the appearance of making the fish seem to be swimming backwards. [[image: long fish, with description of previous sentence.  image marked: 3"t.l.]] We also caught numerous small bill fish apparently both [[underline]] Ablennes [[/underline]] & [[underline]] Tylosurus. [[/underline]] We saw some spotted or rather blotched fish (8" approx) about the build of a goatfish. They kept their distance from the light ,however, and did not give us a chance to collect them. Crabs and one cuttlefish came along and were caught. It was moderately damp with a fair easterly breeze. At 2:30 A.M. I got cold on deck and needed a blanket, the wind was rather breezy then.
May 28 - Today was fair and calm at dawn. My eel pots only yeilded an [[underline]] Apogon [[/underline]] , [[underline]] Lethrinus nebulosus [[/underline]] , and a couple of crabs. So I left them in it. We left after breakfast back to the Fish Pier to meet Gurley just up from Dhahran still with a bad cold. The jist of the visit was that we have to come to Dhahran again Sunday partly to unload the stuff ,and partly just because. In the morning ,I set the eel pots ,and then cleaned off the bottom of the row boat which was composed of green algae (1 inch long) some almost brownish. It was filamentous and slimy to the touch. Actually there were very few barnacles. The bottom of the Palestine, however, has just about everything from barnacles to Algae. I also wrote notes and wrapped specimens ,and started a preliminary report of work todate a la request of Gurley.   This afternoon ,we unloaded the 2 tons of tent frames off our deck roof ,and the boat rose. Then about 3:15 P.M. we headed up Tarut Bay. Jim sprained his wrist by skidding on the wet deck early in the morning, and went to a doctor
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