thermophile

An organism which is adapted to high temperatures, such as in hot springs and geysers, smoker vents on the sea floor, and domestic hot water pipes. A wide range of bacteria, fungi and simple plants and animals can grow at temperature up to 50 °C; thermophiles grow and reproduce at above 50 °C. They can be classified, according to their optimal growth temperature, into simple thermophiles (50-65 °C); thermophiles (65-85 °C), and extreme thermophiles (>85 °C). See: mesophile, psychrophile.