Photographs of representative sediment habitats in the dark ocean. Photographs of representative sediment habitats in the dark ocean. (A) Surficial sediment from a methane seep in the Black Sea. (B) Mats of sulfur-oxidizing Beggiatoa on the sediment surface of the Northwestern Black Sea shelf. (C) Pacific Ocean abyssal plain sediment surface. (D) Compilation of deep sediment layers cored at Hole 1231 (Peru Margin) during Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 201. (Panel A courtesy of T. Treude, IfM Geomar, Kiel, Germany; panel B courtesy of K. Hissmann, JAGO-Team/IfM Geomar, Kiel, Germany; panel C was reprinted with permission of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute [courtesy of Ken Smith].) Beth N. Orcutt et al. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 2011; doi:10.1128/MMBR.00039-10