Halobacteria get their rosy pigmentation from a protein, called bacteriorhodopsin, which they use to absorb energy from the Sun (the way plants use green chlorophyll for photosynthesis). Other scientists have found that pink lakes might also get their color from tiny microbes known as halobacteria. The color of these carotenoids gives these algae - and the water they populate - their characteristic pink color. With enough light and heat and a salinity level well above that of sea water, these microbes produce and accumulate carotenoids, such as beta carotene. The key appears to be that the high salinity of these lakes only allows a very few select microbes to grow and thrive in such harsh conditions.įor example, in many pink lakes, the only type of microbe that can survive and thrive is a particular type of halophile micro-algae known as Dunaliella salina. Scientists believe that the high salinity of these lakes helps to explain their unique coloring.Īlthough the exact cause of each particular lake's coloring hasn't been definitively determined, scientists do have a couple of theories that they believe explain the pink color of these lakes. If you were to compare all of these lakes, you would find one interesting factor in common: they're salt lakes.
Even the northern half of Utah's Great Salt Lake usually exhibits a color that's somewhere between pink and a deep red. Australia boasts multiple pink lakes, such as Lake Hillier, Pink Lake, and Hutt Lagoon. Some of the most famous pink lakes around the world include the following: Ukraine's Lake Koyashskoe, Tanzania's Lake Natron, Azerbaijan's Masazir Lake, and Senegal's Lake Retba. Let's take a closer look at what gives these lakes their signature hue. They're natural WONDERS that can be found in many countries around the world. The water looks like a strawberry milkshake. We're not talking about a "sunset reflecting off the water"-type of pink. You arrive and you're ready to dive in, but then you notice something odd.
A nice dip sounds refreshing, so you throw on your swimsuit, grab a towel, and head for the lake. On a visit to a foreign country, you hear the locals rave about a nearby lake.
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