On Nov. 30, 2023, researchers at Hokkaido University, in collaboration with colleagues at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution announced they had isolated a novel campylobacterial strain from a warm-water vent known as ﾑCrab Spaﾒ and named it Hydrogenimonas cancrithermarum, after the site. Their findings were published in the journal International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology.

Hydrogenimonas is known as the thermophilic (adapted to hot temperatures) genus that is most closely related to mesophilic and pathogenic genera in the class Campylobacteria. The present study revealed that the new strain represents the first mesophilic (adapted to moderate temperatures) and sulfur-oxidizing bacterium in the genus, expanding the physiological and metabolic characteristics of the genus.