The Late Miocene Cooling (LCM) has been recognized as a global event in the climate record, and the start of modern ecosystems between 7.0 - 5.5 Ma occur globally; little is known about changes in aquatic ecosystems especially shallow water carbonate ecosystems, such as coral reefs, where few good proxy records exist. A “reef gap” existed during the Pliocene in the area of the Central Indo-Pacific, where reefs that had been present during the Messinian (7 - 5 Ma) drowned by the Early Pliocene (5 - 3 Ma). Here, we present a TEX86H-based sea surface temperature (SST) record for the Coral Sea, suggesting that the LMC was more pronounced in the Central Indo-Pacific than previously thought. During the LMC, the SSTs at ODP Site 811 declined by about 2-3ºC, and cooling lasted from 7 Ma to possibly as late as 5 Ma. Therefore, the timing of this event is the same as the “Pliocene reef gap.” The timing of the onset of this event matches the cooling in the records. This suggests that the LMC was a final stressor that provided a regional driver for the collapse of reefs and, therefore, a potential cause for the “Pliocene Coral Gap.” The relatively rapid and intense change in SST and other stressors associated with the cooling caused coral reef systems to collapse across the Central Indo-Pacific.