Pyrolobus fumarii | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Archaea |
Phylum: | Crenarchaeota |
Class: | Thermoprotei |
Order: | Desulfurococcales |
Family: | Pyrodictiaceae |
Genus: | Pyrolobus |
Binomial name | |
Pyrolobus fumarii Blöch, Rachel, Burggraf, Hafenbradl, Jannasch & Stetter, 1997 |
Pyrolobus fumarii is a species of archaea known for its ability to live at extremely high temperatures that kill most organisms.
It was first discovered in 1997 in a black smoker hydrothermal vent at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, setting the upper temperature threshold for known life to exist at 113 °C.
Strain 121, a microbe from the same family found at a vent in the Pacific Ocean, survived and multiplied during a 10-hour interval spent at 121 °C in an .