Forest of staghorn coral thrives

From an article by Susan Cocking in the Miami Herald:

Dropping 12 feet below the ocean's surface less than a mile off Fort Lauderdale's beach-front towers, a diver might wonder if he or she somehow got magically transported to a remote coral reef in the Caribbean.

Covering the sea bottom is a forest of maize-colored, healthy staghorn coral with grouper, grunts, damselfish and other assorted tropicals swimming all around. If not for the dusky, green water, bits of floating trash and gobs of algae covering some of the surrounding soft corals, the scene could be the Bahamas or Bonaire.

Why is a threatened species of coral thriving near urban Broward County?

``Nobody knows. The jury's still out,'' said Richard Dodge, head of the National Coral Reef Institute at Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center in Dania Beach. ``In other areas, this species is becoming more rare, like in the Keys and Caribbean. We are blessed to have this here. . . .''

Broward County natural resources specialist Ken Banks said the area, located just south of Anglin's Pier, was devoid of branching coral several years ago. But today, he said, county officials are having trouble mapping it.

``It's spreading so quickly, we can't keep up with it,'' Banks said.