Mother Nature has taken Bermuda’s signature pink colour to a whole new level, with the Spittal Pond Nature Reserve in Smiths having turned a vibrant shade of pink due to a “seasonal plankton bloom.”
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources explained that the “intense pink colour of the water in Spittal Pond is due to a seasonal plankton ‘bloom.’
“Microscopic phytoplankton cells grow and reproduce rapidly in the warm waters that are enriched with nutrients. The red colour is determined by the photosynthetic pigments in each of the billions of phytoplankton cells in the pond.
“A similar bloom was observed there in September 2015. The types of phytoplankton cells present in Spittal Pond do vary over time and environmental conditions also vary subtly and only certain combinations of temperature, nutrients and specific cells can produce a bloom.
“This condition may last for some time until nutrients are used up and zooplankton begin to feed on the phytoplankton, controlling their growth.”
