Monterey bay aquarium - A Fascination for Fish: Adventures of an Underwater Pioneer - page 189

it extremely di‹cult to permanently rid a water system of the parasite.
Moreover, copper sulfate is quite toxic to invertebrates and plants. This
means that exhibits of fishes that also include invertebrates are often
impractical because if the disease crops up, all the invertebrates must
be removed in order to treat the fish.
Like many aquarists, I had my share of frustrations at Steinhart and
Sea World battling this stubborn disease. I did learn one thing in my
skirmishes over the years with this ciliate, however, and that is that it
is unable to reproduce below 63°F. If the water system is colder than
that, there will be no Cryptocaryon infecting the fishes.
Knowing this, I saw the tremendous possibilities for mixed-species
exhibits at Monterey. The water temperature in Monterey rarely gets
as high as 63°F, a fact that would allow us to display fishes plus a host
of delicate invertebrates and marine algae all together in the same ex-
hibit. Slow-growing invertebrates and seaweeds could be left undis-
turbed for years to thrive and develop.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that this could be
a great opportunity to create aquarium exhibits that truly represent
the diverse fish, invertebrate, and algal life of the ocean. This was the
vision of the four founders, and I also saw it as an opportunity to fol-
low up on the idea I'd had twenty years before at Marineland of putting
aquarium backgrounds out in the ocean to become naturally encrusted
with marine growth. Left out long enough, they would come to re-
semble the real thing.
My meetings at Monterey led to an o¤er of the position of curator
for the new aquarium. I was still a little nervous about being able to
pull o¤ some of the proposed exhibit ideas, but the potential was cer-
tainly exciting. I accepted and was asked to come to Monterey for a
meeting and interview with David Packard. After some preliminary
conversation about the aquarium, Packard asked me to join him in the
other room. It was a job interview, but for the life of me I don't re-
member what was said. It must have gone all right because, with a smile,
he said I had the job, shook my hand, and told me the salary I would
receive.
This was the spring of 1980, and our two daughters had grown up
and were now pretty much out on their own. The move to Monterey