Editor's Message

One of our treasures from decades of keeping marine aquariums is a tattered, salt-stained, dog-eared, autographed copy of a little volume called The Marine Aquarium Handbook. For the whole first generation of  reef aquarists, this was our touchstone and bible as we daringly set up our first saltwater systems. Dated 1982, this book appeared at a time when many still believed that marine fish were impossible to keep, when live rock and skimmers and metal halides were unknown—a time when the idea of sustaining live corals in captivity was scoffed at by preeminent biologists.

In the past weeks, as we undertook the humbling responsibility of publishing CORAL, the world’s original magazine for marine aquarists, we turned once again to our trustworthy mentor and author of that classic text, Martin A. Moe, Jr.

Currently immersed in breeding experiments with the sea urchin Diadema antillarum in his home laboratory in the Florida Keys, Martin readily agreed to join us. Here is the response he sent. It is vintage Moe, literate and thoughtful and perfectly summing up what it is that brings all of us together to support a magazine like CORAL.

“There is a fascinating and even primal attraction to marine aquariums that lies deep within the psyche of most people. It seems to go beyond the technical, artistic, and scientific satisfaction of creating and/or exploring a miniature replica of a marine aquatic ecosystem within our own terrestrial world.
“Perhaps this is keyed to the instinctive drive to explore and understand our environment that has allowed us to survive and thrive ever since humanity first emerged. We are, and have been for a very long time, greatly captivated and enthralled by life from the sea in all its primitive complexity abiding behind glass within our own environment.

“Keeping marine life in captive containers is not a new endeavor. It actually dates back to 1846, perhaps even earlier, but this was when Mrs. Thynne of London kept various invertebrates sent to her from the coast in a stone jar for many months of study and entertainment.
“Water changes occurred every three months and the organisms were kept alive by manual aeration. As Mrs. Thynne reported, ‘I thought of having it aerated by pouring it backwards and forwards before an open window, for half to three quarters of an hour between each time of using it. This was doubtless a fatiguing operation; but I had a little handmaiden, who, besides being rather anxious to oblige me, thought it rather an amusement.’

“Yes, we have come a long way, and most of that journey has taken place in the last 45 years.
“For me, the journey began in the early 1960s. I was a graduate student at the University of South Florida and a fishery biologist at the Marine Research Laboratory in St. Petersburg. I did a project for an animal behavior course on the breeding behavior of two species of blennies. The aquarium system consisted of twelve 10- and 20-gallon slate bottomed, stainless steel–framed tanks with bubble-up corner filters, a “state of the art” facility. This old study is now available on the Internet. How’s that for a blending of the old and the new?
“But of course it is the new that we seek out most diligently. And there is so much now that is new. It is always important, and greatly fascinating, to keep up with what is happening in the marine environments of our world and in our endeavors with captive marine life. I am pleased to learn that CORAL, a premier magazine in this hobby and chronicler of all that is new and exciting, is gaining a new life.
“I am most happy that CORAL has fallen into your purview, and I look forward to many more issues of spectacular photos and interesting and accurate information on marine aquarium systems and captive and wild marine life. All the best to the new CORAL.”

To all faithful readers and supportive sponsors who have been so encouraging during this relaunch of
CORAL, we thank you and hope you find inspiration within these covers. To Daniel Knop and Matthias Schmidt, the enlightened founders of the parent magazine KORALLE, we can only say we hope to be good stewards of this journal. And finally, we extend our sincere gratitude to all the marine scientists, authors, underwater photographers, and lovers of the sea and of coral reefs who have rallied to join us in bringing you this magazine.

James Lawrence
Charlotte, Vermont