Pergusa lake: lake of blood
A strange phenomenon that stained the waters of Lake Pergusa with blood red was in ancient times considered a sad omen.
Until a few years ago, the waters of Lake Pergusa were tinged with red due to the presence of a small shrimp, "Arctodiaptomus Salinus", which, to defend itself from the rays of the summer sun, is tinged with a red pigment and settles in very dense colonies under aquatic plants. This pigment then transfers to the water giving it a reddish appearance.
The phenomenon of the red waters of Lake Pergusa also amazed Aristotle and Pliny who in 208 BC. had observed the same sanguine coloring also in the lake of Bolsena.
In the past centuries the phenomenon of the reddening of the waters of the lake of Pergusa was compared with what had happened in the Nile at the time of Moses: according to the biblical narration, during the first plague of Egypt, Aaron struck the water of the Nile with a stick and it immediately turned into blood. For this reason the lake of Pergusa was nicknamed "Lake of blood" and whenever the reddening of its waters was repeated, it was considered a sign of bad omen.
In more recent times we have begun to witness a slow reduction of the waters in the Pergusa basin and the disappearance of that ancient phenomenon of redness. The causes of the progressive deterioration of the state of the lake are various and some are related to the lack of interest of man.
