The blushing lagoon

The salts gathered in this serene basin find themselves sprinkled on dishes across Europe, from fish and chips to fine filets. Torrevieja, Spain, exports around 300,000 tons of salt a year, harvested from these saline lagoons set just off the Mediterranean. The salt's rosy tone isn't owed only to the fiery sunset: Halobacterium and algae called Dunaliella salina, both of which thrive in hypersaline habitats, combine here to create a cloudy, pervading pink. To make matters pinker still, flamingos are among the many birds that converge on the lagoons to scavenge in the shallow saltwater.