The assessment of the age of scleractinian coral species (Anthozoa: Scleractinia) based on the temperature ranges of their habitat

Until now, the age of deep-water scleractinians was determined based only on rare finds of these corals in terrestrial sequences, which constitute <10% of their known diversity. Inasmuch as most of the non-zooxanthellate coral species dwell in the ocean beyond the shelf zone (up to the abyssal depths) and their fossil remains are missing from terrestrial sections, we propose a new approach to the assessment of their age based on paleoecological features: the seawater temperatures in the geological past and the habitat temperature ranges established for 53 coral species. The study confirmed our previous assumption concerning the very young age of the deep-water fauna.