The Florida Keys and the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary in the Gulf of Mexico off the Texas coast are the only living coral reef formations in the continental United States.

When Everglades National Park was created in 1947, the boundaries did not include Key Largo or any of the reefs.

Seashells, corals, sponges, seahorses, and other marine life were being hammered, chiseled, and even dynamited from the reefs to provide souvenirs for tourists.

[3] These efforts led the Florida Board of Parks and Historic Memorials to designate the state-controlled reefs off Key Largo a permanent preserve.

One of the most famous sites in the Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park is the Christ of the Abyss, located near North Dry Rocks, and within the existing Key Largo management area that was incorporated into the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary [5] "on November 16, 1990".

The statue is a third casting of Il Cristo Degli Abissi in the Mediterranean Sea near Genoa, Italy, which was placed there in 1954.

The Christ of the Abyss was donated to the Underwater Society of America in 1961 by Italian scuba entrepreneur Egidio Cressi and placed in its current location in 1965.