KEY WEST -- Amid 300-pound groupers, curious barracudas and a rainbow of tropical fish attracted to a new artificial reef off Key West, a tiny creature is causing a big stir among conservationists: the long-spined sea urchin.

Decimated by disease during the early 1980s, the urchins have struggled to recover in the Caribbean Basin. Sightings of them in the Lower Keys had been rare until divers began spotting them on the reef created by the sinking of the USS Vandenberg five months ago.

``Wow, that's cool, and very interesting,'' said Jon Dodrill, head of Florida's Artificial Reef Program. ``It's been a long-term concern that the urchins were not coming back.''

The urchins -- related to starfish and also called diademas -- play a critical role in the reef ecosystem, devouring algae that can stifle coral growth and lead to coral disease.

Capt. Joe Weatherby, who spearheaded the 13-year effort to sink the 523-foot Vandenberg, called them ``the ocean's lawn mowers'' for their algae-munching diet.

So far, Weatherby said, divers have seen only juvenile urchins, with bodies the size of a dime or nickel and sharp black spines up to 3 inches long. One spine even punctured Weatherby's glove and stuck under his thumbnail.

The massive steel vessel rests in 150 feet of water, but its top side -- where divers first began seeing the urchins -- is about 70 feet below the surface. There, the urchins claimed their first real estate, including an observatory platform. Weatherby said the area provides protection from prey and sunlight that creates food.

`ALL OVER THE SHIP'

``Now, the urchins are all over the ship,'' he said.

Ed Little, a biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries Service, said the presence of young spiny lobsters also are a surprise at the artificial reef.

``Small lobsters are not found naturally in that habitat; they find shallow water,'' Little said. ``But they are getting their cue that this is a good place to go, instead of swimming another five miles into shore.''

Little said real estate is at a premium in the ocean. ``Put something new in the water,'' he said, ``and marine life will take advantage, almost like the old saying: `Build it and they will come.' ''

But unlike natural reefs that take decades to grow, it took only two minutes and lots of explosives for the Vandenberg to go from seaworthy vessel to underwater housing for sea creatures. In previous incarnations, the ship had served as World War II transporter, Cold War missile tracker and sci-fi movie set.

On a recent dive, Weatherby swam past giant radar dishes that once tracked Soviet missiles and into rooms that once served as the galley and captain's quarters. He pointed out nooks and crannies where spiny oysters and other sea life hides. Don Kincaid, vice chairman of the Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society's Board of Trustees, said he expects the Vandenberg ultimately will attract a mix of marine life like few other places in the world. The reason, he says, is location. The Vandenberg is ``smack in the middle'' of several major environmental influences: the Gulf of Mexico, the Everglades, the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf Stream.

``Here the conditions are different all the time,'' Kincaid said. ``We have muddy water, clear water, strong spring tides and currents that surge through from the Gulf of Mexico. . . . What marine soup ends up being here, nobody really knows.''

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