/hal'oh bak tear"ee euh/ , n.pl., sing. halobacterium /-tear"ee euhm/ .
rod-shaped archaebacteria, as of the genera Halobacterium and Halococcus, occurring in saline environments as the Dead Sea, salt flats, and brine, and using the pigment bacteriorhodopsin rather than chlorophyll for photosynthesis. Also called halobacters /hal"oh bak'teuhrz/ .
[ 1975-80; HALO- + BACTERIA; cf. NL Halobacterium a genus of such bacteria ]