The BBC News article Pink lake in Australia attracts and delights tourists describes an artificial salt lake in Westgate Park, Melbourne, Australia that tuns pink around February and then in "late Autumn, until cooler temperatures restore it back to blue."
I am not sure about the autumn part as it's in the southern hemisphere, but my question is about the color change.
- Could they mean beta carotene rather than beto carotene?
- And if so, does the pigment stay inside the algae or is it released into the water to produce this color change?
- And why pink, rather than the orange color we associate with carrots?
In those conditions, the lake's algae produces a red pigment called beto carotene
The lake's pink colour typically lasts through to late Autumn, until cooler temperatures restore it back to blue.