[1] Pyrococcus has similar characteristics of other thermoautotrophican archaea such as Archaeoglobus, and Methanococcus in the respect that they are all thermophilic and anaerobic.

They show a polar grouping of flagella and are enveloped by an S-layer enclosing a periplasmic space around the cytoplasmic membrane.

Peptide fermentation is the principle metabolic pathway however, growth has been observed for P. furiosus and P. abyssi on starch, maltose, and pyruvate but not for P. horikoshii.

[citation needed] Pyrococcus species inhabit environments with extremely high temperatures such as hydrothermal vents.

In the example of Hydrothermal vents, where P. abyssi has been found, there is no sunlight and the pressure is around 200 atm in addition to the extremely high temperature.