Hawaiian Pond Turns 'Pink'... "Salinity Twice That of Seawater"

Red Bands Indicate Increase in Halobacteria
Resulting from Elevated Pond Salinity Due to Drought

A pond on Maui Island in Hawaii, USA, has turned pink, attracting attention.

Kealia Pond on Maui Island, Hawaii has turned pink.
[Photo by Travis Morin, Instagram capture]

On the 9th (local time), according to Hawaii News Now and the Associated Press (AP), Kealia Pond located in the south-central part of Maui Island turned pink.

Hawaii News Now reported that "the pond looks like something out of a science fiction movie," while AP described it as "the pond's color changed to a bubblegum pink, resembling a set from the movie ‘Barbie’."

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) stated that the pond has been pink since the end of last month and has persisted for nine days. Authorities noted that the pond's salinity is currently twice that of seawater, and they estimate that the color change is due to halobacteria, bacteria that turn red under high salinity conditions.

AP reported that the drought on Maui Island may have contributed to the increased salinity of the pond.

Brett Wolf, the pond's manager, told AP, "Water from the Waikapu River flows into the pond to raise its water level, but (due to the drought) this hasn't happened for a long time." This means that because the river water hasn't flowed in due to the drought, the pond's salinity increased, likely causing the growth of red-hued halobacteria and the color change of the pond.

Authorities stated that the pond is not toxic but collected samples for further testing and sent them to the University of Hawaii.

Kealia Pond on Maui Island, Hawaii has turned pink.
[Photo by Travis Morin, Instagram capture]

It is unclear how long the pond's color will last, but Hawaii residents are reportedly enjoying the rare sight. A resident living on Maui Island told Hawaii News Now in an interview, "I've passed by this pond thousands of times, but this is the first time I've seen it pink," adding, "The pond is really beautiful and amazing."

Entrepreneur and photographer Travis Morin told Hawaii News Now, "My friends said the pond was pink, and I couldn't believe it, but when I happened to pass by, I thought the pond's color looked like the pink of ‘Pepto-Bismol’ (a pink American digestive medicine)." He posted photos of the pink pond on Instagram on the 8th, receiving over 4,000 likes as of that day.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.