Fossil Siderastrea radians coral, Canary Islands, Spain

Fossil Siderastrea radians coral from La Santa, Lanzarote, Canary Islands, dated to ~130,000 years ago, the early part of the last interglacial period (MIS 5.5). This coral does not live in waters around the Canary Islands at present, but is restricted to tropical waters of west Africa, indicating that last interglacial waters around the Canary Islands were much warmer than at present (Muhs and others, 2014).