[1] This haloalkaliphilic and obligately anaerobic bacterium can be found in the highly alkaline, salty, deep waters of California's Mono Lake.

Despite the extreme environment that they require, "their cell walls are very delicate, and it is difficult to keep them alive for long periods in the laboratory," says Dr. Elena Pikuta, one of the discoverers of S. americana.

S. americana thrives in the lake-bottom mud of Lake Mono, a 13 mile wide former monomictic volcanic basin which is fed by numerous small Sierra streams and which has no outflow except evaporation and Californian aqueducts, thereby continually increasing the concentration of salts and other minerals in its waters.

Further mineral enrichment of these waters also occur due to the volcanically active area, such as when Negit Island erupted roughly 250 years ago.

[7] S. americana is capable of metabolizing D-glucose, fructose, maltose, sucrose, starch and D-mannitol and has as its waste H2, acetate, ethanol and formate.