The iconic queen conch, unofficial mascot of the Florida Keys, is under threat — and federal officials missed a deadline to help protect it.
The Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit conservation organization, filed a lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in July, alleging that the organization failed to designate critical habitat for the threatened species by the required deadline.
That means two major projects in Broward County involving dredging the seabed could disturb nearby populations of queen conch, Alex Muir, a Florida-based attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, told the USA TODAY Network…