A novel thermophilic, anaerobic, mixotrophic bacterium, designated strain MAG-PB1^T, was isolated from a shallow-water hydrothermal vent system in Palaeochori Bay off the coast of the island of Milos, Greece. The cells were Gram-negative, rugose, short rods, approximately 1.0 μm long and 0.5 μm wide. Strain MAG-PB1^T grew at 30–70 °C (optimum 60 °C), 0–50 g NaCl l^− 1 (optimum 15–20 g l^− 1) and pH 5.5–8.0 (optimum pH 6.0). Generation time under optimal conditions was 2.5 h. Optimal growth occurred under chemolithoautotrophic conditions with H₂ as the energy source and CO₂ as the carbon source. Fe(III), Mn(IV), arsenate and selenate were used as electron acceptors. Peptone, tryptone, Casamino acids, sucrose, yeast extract, d-fructose, α-d-glucose and ( − )-d-arabinose also served as electron donors. No growth occurred in the presence of lactate or formate. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 66.7 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence indicated that this organism is closely related to Deferrisoma camini, the first species of a recently described genus in the Deltaproteobacteria. Based on the 16S rRNA gene phylogenetic analysis and on physiological, biochemical and structural characteristics, the strain was found to represent a novel species, for which the name Deferrisoma palaeochoriense sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is MAG-PB1^T ( = JCM 30394^T = DSM 29363^T).