W
e will take it as a positive
omen that the New Year
is starting out with some
unexpected news reaffirm-
ing the notion that good
things sometimes do hap-
pen to good people.
Martin A. Moe, Jr.,
widely recognized as the
godfather of the modern marine aquarium
hobby, has been honored with a Ben Frank-
lin Award for having written the Best Sci-
ence Book of 2010. The volume being feted
is the new Marine Aquarium Handbook: Be-
ginner to Breeder, a revised and expanded version of the
bestselling aquarium book of all time.
Presented by the Independent Book Publishers Association, the Ben Franklin awards are in their 23rd year
and are meant to celebrate excellence in writing, design,
and independent publishing. We can think of no one in
the aquarium world more deserving than Martin Moe,
who, with his wife and publishing partner, Barbara, self-published and sold almost 300,000 copies of this book
from their own home in Florida. Early editions of the
book are in the permanent collections of virtually every
serious marine aquarist, and this one volume is widely
credited with helping hundreds of thousands of people
set up and maintain their first saltwater aquariums.
The new edition is a collaboration between Martin
and Barbara and many of the team who publish this
magazine and books under the Microcosm/TFH imprint.
Among those who joined in helping to bring the
Handbook back into print are Matthew Wittenrich, the principal photographer, and others who provided brilliant
images: Scott Michael, Alf Jacob Nilsen, Denise Nielsen
Tackett and Larry Tackett, Matt Pedersen, Charles Delbeek, and others. The book was designed by CORAL’s
talented art director, Linda Provost, and lightly edited by
Yours Truly, and has a fitting Foreword by Julian Sprung.
matthew l. wittenrich
The real credit goes to Martin for his rare ability to
blend science, common sense, and clearly given advice,
and his obvious passion for the subject matter. We all
have our favorite Moe paragraphs, and these are mine
(from The Marine Aquarium Reference, companion vol-
ume to the Handbook), on the subject of the ethics of
keeping live animals in aquariums:
“Take a quiet beach, a gentle breeze, a setting sun,
and two 10-year-old boys. One of these kids is catch-
author and inveterate marine biology experimenter martin
moe, collecting in the waters of his front yard wet lab on lower
matecumbe Key, Florida.
ing fiddler crabs on the beach and putting them on a
fish hook to catch a flounder for the family cookout. The
other is catching fiddler crabs, pulling their legs off, and
gleefully watching them try to run down the beach on
two legs. Then he pulls off the claw and slowly cuts the
crab in half with his own claw. One of these kids is right
and one is very wrong, and few of us have any problem
determining which is which. As far as the fiddler crabs
are concerned, however, attitude and intent is not a consideration—their fate is the same in the hands of either
boy. The significance of this incident lies solely in the
portent of human behavior, for the few individual crabs
that are lost will not affect the survival of the species.
“So, is it right or wrong to keep a marine aquarium?
There is no answer that is right for everyone. If it dis-
turbs you to keep animals in captivity and watch nature
interact in your living room, then a marine aquarium is
not for you. However, if the form, color, and behavior
of these animals is fascinating to you, and the technical
and biological maintenance of a marine aquarium sys-
tem is an exciting challenge, go for it.... The lives of the
individual animals that are collected and maintained in
the aquarium may well be better and longer in captivity
than in the wild, and those that are lost could expect no
better in the sea.”
Thanks, Martin, for all your good words and good
works. Keep them coming.
—James M. Lawrence
Charlotte, Vermont
