Vancouver Beaches & Harbour Waters Have Strangely Turned Completely Red (PHOTOS)

Tourists and locals were treated to an insanely red harbour waters in Vancouver due to an algae bloom. Some people were lucky enough to get pictures of the unusually red water and it seriously looks like something out of The Shining or another scary movie. 

Throughout the week, several photos have been posted online of the Vancouver harbour. These were not ordinary pictures, as the waters looked bright red!

According to Huffington Post Canada, this is not the first time the waters in Vancouver have turned this vibrant colour and it is entirely due to an algae bloom. The algae producing this phenomenon — Noctiluca scintillans — is erroneously known as “red tide”. It is not to be confused with red tide poisoning in fish. 

According to the National Ocean Service, red tide poisoning occurs when colonies of algae grow out of control while producing toxic effects bivalve shellfish and other marine mammals in extreme cases.

If these shellfish are eaten by humans, it can lead to serious and potentially fatal illnesses such as a “paralytic shellfish poisoning” and “amnesic shellfish poisoning.”

Blooms like this can be caused by a number of things, including climate change, human activity or a combination of tides and temperatures. 

Elysha Gordon, Canadian shellfish sanitation program coordinator with the DFO, told CBC News that the colourful algae is not harmful to humans. 

Blooms usually occur from May to September. In fact, this is not the first time this has happened in Vancouver. There are tons of pictures and videos online from previous years showing the eerie colour.

There is no clear answer as to how long this algae bloom will stick around in the Vancouver harbours and beaches, but as long as conditions remain ideal for the bloom, it will be staying. 

BC has been home to some seriously weird phenomena lately. Most recently, a large “fried egg” jellyfish that grows up to 20 feet long was spotted swimming off the Sunshine Coast.