Residents of a lake-side town were baffled when they noticed the lake’s otherwise clear water had turned a bizarre spinach-green colour.
The bizarre incident was spotted at the Xinkaihu Scenic Area on the shore of Xingkai Lake near the city of Mishan, in north-eastern China’s Heilongjiang Province.
Phone footage shows the bright green waves crashing against the sand which confused locals and visitors alike.
Witnesses said that the green shoreline spun from two to three miles (4.8 kilometres) in length and was around 60 feet (18 metres) wide.
As the lake went deeper, they said the colour appeared closer to normal.
The video was later shared on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, where many netizens questioned if the lake is polluted.
One user titled ‘Universal station string’ said: “It must be either due to pollution or algae.”
Another user titled ‘Cabbage’ commented: “This is called eutrophication, which leads to an abundance of green algae. This poses a significant threat to fish populations.”
While user ‘glare of light’ wrote: “It looks delicious, can you send me some.”
Mr Li, an employee of the Xingkai Lake Tourism Resort, later said that such occurrences were rare in the past and could be due to the swift water flow from upstream areas due to a strong typhoon.
He also suspects that the heavy rainfall caused a massive build-up of algae and moss which gave the beach its peculiar discolouration.
He added that the scenic area will undergo restoration and should recover quickly.
The scenic area is currently closed to tourists.
