Protohydroia Octherma

The protohydroia octherma are immobile, thermophilic (or "heat loving") bacteria. It is an octagonal shaped cell with thick cell walls. It has adapted these cell walls to protect it from the heat of the deep sea vents and hot springs it flourishes in. They are orange in color because of the sulfur they absorb as well as the other volcanic materials. It gets its energy from these as well as the geothermic heat given off from the vents and hot springs. Thanks to this adaptation it needs no sunlight. While around the vents they form a honeycomb-like structure and have been known to build up so much they make cones around the vents. They reproduce through binary fission, like their ancestors before them. Each cell is around 10 micrometers in size.