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Some molluscan valves attributed to Myrtea sp. (Lucinidae), Vesicomya sp. and another undetermined Vesicomydae were sampled in 1993 (cruise TTR3/Leg2) and 1994 (cruise UM94) by coring on the top of the Napoli Dome, a mud volcano located on the Mediterranean Ridge, at about 1900 m of water depth. These bivalves belong to an unknown, apparently rich benthic community associated to the sulphides and methane-rich emissions that characterize the Napoli Dome. Outside the Mediterranean, deep-sea Lucinidae and Vesicomyidae are associated with cold-seeps and hydrothermal vents and are known to be sustained by bacterial chemosynthetic activity based on sulphide and/or methane oxidation. The same explanation is given for this newly discovered deep Mediterranean fauna, firstly described here.