Archaeal dominance in the mesopelagic zone of the Pacific Ocean

A year-long study of the abundance of two specific archaeal groups (pelagic euryarchaeota and pelagic crenarchAEota) in one of the ocean's largest habitats suggests that most pelagic deep-sea microorganisms are metabolically active and the results suggest that the global oceans harbour approximately 1.3 × 1028Archaeal cells, and 3.1‬×‬10 28 bacterial cells.