Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Ed Ricketts
(right)
and Richie Lovejoy examining a bat ray specimen at the
Pacific Biological Laboratories, April 1939. (Pat Hathaway Photo Collection,
Monterey)
THE LEGEND OF DOC RICKETTS
Ed “Doc” Ricketts was a pioneering marine biologist who oper-
ated a small biological supply house on Cannery Row from 1923
until he died in 1948, when his car was hit by a train only a few
blocks from his laboratory. Ricketts made a modest living col-
lecting, preserving, and selling biological study specimens to
schools and universities. The selection of animals used by the uni-
versities for anatomy classes was broad: frogs, cats, spiny dogfish
sharks, and a wide range of invertebrates including marine worms,
sea stars, brittle stars, and mollusks such as octopus, giant geo-
duck clams, and gastropod snails. His travels to collect the spec-
imens covered the entire Pacific Coast.
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