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Dead sharks and dolphins are washing ashore. Crabs, turtles and birds are being found soaked in oil as the slick sloshes into Louisiana’s wetlands. South of New Orleans, chocolate-like globs of oil have shut down the public beach.

Coast Guard officials say the spill’s impact now stretches 150 miles.  Some scientists fear the spreading plumes will catch the ocean current to the Florida Keys and up to the eastern seaboard.

Photographers' images, some of them chillingly beautiful, can only begin to hint at the enormity of the disaster.

 


Shrimp boats equipped with booms collect oil in Chandeleur Sound, La., on May 5. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

 


Oil moves past an oil rig, top right, in Chandeleur Sound on May 5. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

 


An oil-soaked bird struggles against the side of an Iron Horse supply vessel at the site of the oil spill off Louisiana on May 9. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

 


A Portuguese man-of-war is seen from under the oily water in Chandeleur Sound on May 6. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

 


A dead jellyfish floats amid oil May 6 in the Gulf of Mexico, southwest of the Southwest Pass of the Mississippi River on the coast of Louisiana. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

 


A Coast Guard plane flies over the Development Driller III oil drilling platform, which was drilling a relief well May 12 at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

 


Risers, the outer casings of oil drill pipes, are seen on the deck of the service vessel Joe Griffin as it prepares to head to Port Fourchon, La., on May 11. (Pool Photo/Gerald Herbert)

 


An aerial view of the northern Chandeleur barrier islands, 20 miles from the main Louisiana coastline, shows sheens of oil reaching land May 6. (AP Photo/David Quinn)

 


A pod of bottlenose dolphins swims in the oily water of Chandeleur Sound on May 6.  Five days later, six dead dolphins were found along the Gulf Coast. Officials were investigating oil's role in the deaths. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

 


An oil-stained cattle egret is seen on the deck of the Joe Griffin supply vessel May 9. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

 


Oil swirls in the Gulf of Mexico currents May 6. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

 


Contractors unload oil booms to protect marshlands May 13 in Hopedale, La. (John Moore/Getty Images)

 


Pelicans fly past a nest of eggs apparently stained with oil on a Louisiana island May 22. The island is home to hundreds of brown pelican nests as well as terns, gulls and roseated spoonbills. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

 


A glob of oil thought to be from the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico sits on a reed on a beach in Southwest Pass, La., on May 15. (Reuters/Lee Celano)

 


A Greenpeace worker collects samples of oil May 19 that washed up along the mouth of the Mississippi River near Venice, La. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

 


An oil-covered dragonfly, stuck to marsh grass, tries to clean itself May 18 in Garden Island Bay near Venice. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

 


Birds fly over oil on the water April 29 near Breton Sound Island, on the southernmost tip of the Chandeleur Islands. (Reuters/Sean Gardner/Greenpeace/Handout)

 

 


In this aerial photo taken in the Gulf of Mexico more than 50 miles southeast of Venice on Louisiana's tip, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig is seen burning Wednesday, April 21, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) #


Firefighting boats spray seawater onto the burning Deepwater Horizon oil rig on April 21, 2010. The oil platform burned for 36 hours after a massive explosion, then later sank into the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday, April 22, 2010, the U.S. Coast Guard said. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) #


Thick smoke rises above the burning Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico on April 21, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

 
A spreading plume of smoke (lower right) from the burning Deepwater Horizon oil rig is visible in this image of Louisiana's Gulf Coast, captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite on April 21. The distance from the rig to the shore is approximately 80 km (50 mi). (NASA Earth Observatory/Jesse Allen/University of Wisconsin SSEC)#



A boat makes its way through crude oil that has leaked from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead in the Gulf of Mexico on April 28, 2010 near New Orleans, Louisiana. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images) #

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This image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard Saturday April 24, 2010 shows oil leaking from the drill pipe of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig after it sank Thursday. (AP photo/US Coast Guard) #


This April 22, 2010 photo provided Sunday, April 25 by the US Coast Guard shows the arm of a robot submarine in an unsuccessful attempt to activate a shutoff device known as a blowout preventer (BOP) to close off the flow of oil at the Deepwater Horizon well head. (AP Photo/US Coast Guard) 


A crew boat is seen past workers on an oil skimmer assisting in the cleanup of a leaking pipeline that resulted from last week's explosion and collapse of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico near the coast of Louisiana Tuesday, April 27, 2010. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) 


Birds fly over a band of oil in this view of the Gulf of Mexico, south of Louisiana, where oil leaking from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead continues to spread in this photograph taken and released to Reuters on April 28, 2010. (REUTERS/Sean Gardner/Greenpeace) #


The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Mississippi Responder is pictured during cleanup activity in the Gulf of Mexico south of Louisiana where oil leaking from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead continues to spread April 28, 2010. (REUTERS/Sean Gardner/Greenpeace)


A dispersant plane passes over an oil skimmer as it cleans oil from a leaking pipeline that resulted from last week's explosion and collapse of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico near the coast of Louisiana Tuesday, April 27, 2010. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) 

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Oil, bottom right, is seen approaching the Louisiana Coast, top left, in this aerial photo taken 8 miles from shore, Wednesday, April 28, 2010. (AP

 
A Hurricane Katrina-damaged car still sits half-submerged near cypress trees in Venice, Louisiana on Thursday, April 29, 2010. A region still recovering from the 2005 hurricane season is bracing for a growing oil spill that resulted from last week's explosion and collapse of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico near the coast of Louisiana. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) 


Workers move containment booms to a smaller vessel on the Mississippi River at Port Eads, Louisiana on Thursday, April 29, 2010. A huge effort is underway to help mitigate the effects of an oil spill caused by the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig. (AP Photo/Bill Haber) 

In this Wednesday, April 28, 2010 photo provided Thursday, April 29 by the Coast Guard, a high volume skimming system skims oil from the Gulf of Mexico near Venice, Louisiana. (AP Photo/US Coast Guard, Petty Officer 2nd Class Prentice Danner) 
Birds fly over oil on the water near Breton Sound Island, on the southern most tip of the Chandeleur Islands in the Gulf of Mexico, south of Louisiana April 29, 2010. (REUTERS/Sean Gardner/Greenpeace)
 
 


A boat makes its way through crude oil that has leaked from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead in the Gulf of Mexico on April 28, 2010 near New Orleans, Louisiana. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images) 
 


A satellite image taken on April 26, 2010, shows an airplane (upper left) flying over part of the oil slick resulting from the explosion of the Transocean Deepwater Horizon oil rig, in the Gulf of Mexico. (REUTERS/DigitalGlobe) #

The growing oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico is captured in this image from NASA's (MODIS) instrument aboard the Terra satellite. This natural-color image acquired April 29, 2010 shows a twisting patch of oil nearly 125 km (78 mi) wide. (NASA Earth Observatory/Jesse Allen/University of Wisconsin SSEC) #
 
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