Nearly 40 acres of staghorn coral, a federally protect species, has been discovered in a swath extending from Miami to Ft. Lauderdale.
A surprise discovery along the South Florida coast has revealed dense thickets of a species of coral thought to be disappearing from the region's reefs.
Along the Fort Lauderdale coast, a patch was found about 325 yards off Northeast 18th Street, another about 430 yards off Vista Park and one about 325 yards off the north end of the Bahia Mar Fort Lauderdale Beach Hotel, where A1A splits.
It's surprising to be reminded of just how little we really know; the consensus being that the species is endangered and needs federal protection because it's been disappearing from around the Florida Keys due to that great bugaboo of our time, global warming. And now we find that there are abundant patches of it just a few hundred yards away from the cities. Apparently, nobody thought to look.
