Halophile

Halophiles are extremophile organisms that thrive in environments with very high concentrations of salt. The name comes from the Greek for "salt-loving". While the term is perhaps most often applied to some halophiles classified into the Archaea domain, there are also bacterial halophiles and some eukaryota, such as the alga Dunaliella salina. Some well-known species give off a red color from carotenoid compounds. Such species contain the photosynthetic pigment bacteriorhodopsin. Halophiles are categorized slight, moderate or extreme, by the extent of their halotolerance. Halophiles can be found anywhere with a concentration of salt five times greater than the salt concentration of the ocean, such as the Great Salt Lake in Utah, Owens Lake in California, the Dead Sea, and in evaporation ponds.