Then there is the mysterious bright pink Lake Hiller in Western Australia. It lies about 3 kilometres west of Esperance and is bounded to the East by the South Coast Highway.
The lake is not always pink in colour but the distinctive colour of the water changes as a result of green alga Dunaliella salina, halobacterium Halobacteria cutirubrum, and/or high concentration of brine prawn.
Length: 4 km
Area: 99 ha
Surface elevation: 0 cm
Width: 2 km
Its startling colour remains a mystery and while scientists have proven it's not due to the presence of algae, unlike the other salt lakes down under, they still can't explain why it's pink.
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It's naturally beautiful..
it is beautiful but there got to be a clue why it changes to pink!.
Well let me explain : Isolated water has `mixed bacteria` and limited substrate for energy and competition for survival in this environment with -limited and ever decreasing amount of substrate for energy- as well as hypoxia and anoxia ( absence of dissolved Oxygen in water) Halobacteria -switches on - its second energy generation mechanism from `Photons of light` rather than substrates in the water it prefers to use as energy source by over synthesizing photo sensitive Bacterialopsin molecules at it`s bacterial cell wall -which is PURPLE in color- and that is coupled with ATP(energy molecule of cells)generation ,like chlorophyll molecule of Chloroplast . So that is the reason -Competition in a mixed flora of isolated water with deficient substrate as well as relative hypoxia for survival- and the `fittest is the Halobacteria in that water which can extract energy from light by its unique ability to synthesize Bacterial Opsin molecule and couple that for ATP synthesis rather than usual -now deficient- preferred substrate in that lake water .
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