selecting Reuben as its principal investigator, Marr 

 embarked on a major change in the direction of 

 research on pelagic marine fishes. He believed that 

 there were many problems that could be solved 

 only through controlled laboratory experiments. 

 Heretofore, fev^ studies had been made on the 

 physiology of pelagic fishes. It had not been possi- 

 ble, for example, to study the fecundity of sardines 

 and other pelagic Fishes under laboratory condi- 

 tions, since fish held in aquaria were not known to 

 spawn. However, under proper conditions of diet or 

 by control of endocrine development, it was at least 

 theoretically possible to induce normal spawning in 

 aquaria. Marr proposed that Reuben undertake 

 such studies as the investigation of the efficiency of 

 food utilization by larval fish, the influence of various 

 factors on the rate of growth, the change in body 

 conditon during ovarian development, and the like. 



With this as a mandate, Reuben moved into 

 T-21, one of the gray clapboard cottages (former 

 residences of Scripps' professors) that dotted the 

 hills around Scripps Institution of Oceanography. 

 With the help of his newly hired assistant, Gail 

 Theilacker, a former graduate student at Scripps, 

 he proceeded to establish a laboratory oriented 

 toward basic research, whose main purpose was 

 the study of the innate and adaptive responses of 

 marine organisms. Although Reuben's main 

 academic interest was the investigation of energy 

 exchanges between marine animals and their food 

 supply, he was also interested in other physiological 



functions that could affect an organism's ability to 

 survive in the sea. 



The Physiology Laboratory in T-21 whirred 

 with activity as Reuben threw himself into his new 

 job, infecting others with his customary energy and 

 enthusiasm. Soon, old white bathtubs with clawed 

 feet were filled with seawater and located inside and 

 outside T-21 to hold experimental animals. A par- 

 ticularly robust colony of brine shrimp and algae 

 flourished as a self-contained ecosystem in yet 

 another outside bathtub. One of the first high-speed 

 Beckman ultracentrifuges, used to separate differ- 

 ent sardine proteins, hummed upstairs. In another 

 room a continuous oxygen measurement system, 

 using one of the first double electrode probes, 

 which had been invented by Reuben's close friend 

 and colleague, Dr. John Kanwisher, of the Woods 

 Hole Oceanographic Institution, produced quanti- 

 ties of exciting data. 



Because government funds were scarce, 

 Reuben took every opportunity to take advantage of 

 federal government surplus property to equip his 

 laboratory for experiments on respiration and 

 energy uptake of sardine eggs and larvae. In the 

 absence of a proper cold room, he located a meat 

 packer's cold locker and set this up outside the 

 building. Another piece of equipment picked up 

 from government surplus lists was a hot dog 

 cooker that had small, rotating aluminum rods to 

 heat the wieners. This, minus the heating element, 

 was adapted by Reuben and Gail to turn syringes 



379 



