Spain News: 'Blood Rain' Falls on Spanish Soil, Challenges Imagination of Scientists

Residents from Zamora, Spain were stunned last year when what appeared to be droplets of blood fell down from the sky like rain. This incident led to fears from the residents that either a plague of Biblical proportions was raining down upon them or that it was the result of some hazardous chemical in the atmosphere.

As expected when the blood rain fell in Zamora during that year, citizens were thrown into a panic. Residents noticed that the water in the white basins had somehow turned red. While there were those who thought that the incident was the result of someone had spilling something into the basin, there were those who thought that this was a 'message from God'.

Concerned citizen Joaquín Pérez collected some of the rainwater and sent in over to scientists to be offered an explanation for the phenomena. In a report with Fox News Latino, scientists a group of scientists from the University of Salamanca were able to perform some tests on the mysterious "blood-rain" in order to determine what the incident on Zamora was all about. It turned out that there was a more scientific explaination to things.

According to the results that were found out by the scientists, the blood red liquid turned out to be nothing more than rain water that was mixed with Haematococcus pluvialis, a type of freshwater green microalgae that's capable of combining with a red carotene called astaxanthin.

However, there was still the question on how the algae managed to get there in the first place since the microalgae is not native to Mediterranean climates. The scientists believe that the algae might have been blown across the ocean by by winds most likely from North America.

So far, the theory that the algae came all the way from North America remains a valid theory for the scientists, whose research has been published in the Spanish Royal Society of Natural History Journal. The scientists are still trying to crack down on its source, Science Alert says.

The report also added that a blood rain should not be a cause of panic if it ever does happen again. H. pluvialis, as it turns out, is a non-toxic substance and is often used by breeders as a food source for salmon and trout in order to give them the pinkish and healthier hue. Motorcycle company, Yamaha had also reportedly used the microalgae to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from their manufacturing plants.