The Pink Salt Lakes

One of Nature's Most Remarkable Biological Phenomenons Caused By Bacteria One of the few spectacular sights on the peninsula are the Pink Salt Lakes. They are situated on the isolated east coast as you drive north from Adicora. A very old and somewhat neglected salt mine is opposite the ponds. These ponds are colored a brilliant pink to red and are formed by backwater coming in from the Caribbean Sea just behind them. These extremely hot pink salt lakes occur in arid regions throughout the world and the red coloration is caused by astronomical numbers of microscopic, salt-loving bacteria, called halobacteria living in the water and salt crust. A single drop of the brine contains millions of rod-shaped bacterial cells. How they survive the blistering summer heat and concentrated brine is truly remarkable.

A shot of the lake at a distance and of the sparkling crystal 'floor' up close. When you stand on it, it looks just like rough ice cubes.

Halobacteria can thrive in concentrated brine 9 times the salinity of sea water, and can even remain alive in dry salt crystals for years. In fact, their extreme tolerance for ordinary table salt (sodium chloride) makes them a nuisance to companies using solar evaporation ponds for the production of solar salt. Freshly produced solar salt is often contaminated with these organisms, and they occasionally cause spoilage of fish, meats, vegetables and hides when salt has been used in the preservation process. They may also cause an unsightly, pinkish discoloration of pickled foods such as in salted fish and in salted hides. They cannot survive if the salt concentration drops much below 12 percent. Very few life forms on earth are known to be adapted to this extreme salinity. To get a rough idea of how small these bacterial cells really are, it would take more than half a million to cover the surface of an ordinary pinhead.

We took this great shot of an old shoe crystallizing in the lake.

This chunk of 'crystal' was just broken off randomly from the crystal floor but still remained perfectly formed with it's box like patterns.

The bacteria from the salt lakes produces a red carotenoid pigment which is similar to that found in tomatoes, red peppers, pink flamingos and in many colorful flowers and autumn leaves. This isolated salt lake reserve is festooned with hundreds of beautiful flamingos.

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