The Reef Coral <i>Coscinaraea marshae</i> Is Not a High-Latitude Endemic

Abstract

The ‘temperate’ reef coral Coscinaraea marshae Wells, 1962, is reported from Siberut Island (West Sumatra, Indonesia), a near-equatorial locality, 3375 km away from its northernmost range limit in Western Australia, where it is considered a high-latitude endemic. This tropical record suggests that the latitudinal distributions of poorly recorded reef corals may not yet be fully understood, which might be relevant in the light of progressing seawater warming.

Keywords

• endemism
• near-equatorial locality
• subtropical
• temperate water
• tropicalization