Oil and oil sheen are seen moving past an oil rig, top right, in the waters of Chandeleur Sound, La., Wednesday, May 5, 2010. AP / Eric Gay

A shrimp boat is used to collect oil with booms in the waters of Chandeleur Sound, La., Wednesday, May 5, 2010. AP / Eric Gay

A rig drilling a relief well and support vessels are seen in the Gulf of Mexico, La., Tuesday, May 4, 2010, at the site of the recent collapse and spill of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. AP / Eric Gay

Stunning Oil Spill Photos in the Gulf of Mexico

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The oil you can’t see could be as bad as the oil you can. While people anxiously wait for the slick in the Gulf of Mexico to wash up along the coast, globules of oil are already falling to the bottom of the sea, where they threaten virtually every link in the ocean food chain, from plankton to fish that are on dinner tables everywhere. “The threat to the deep-sea habitat is already a done deal — it is happening now,” said Paul Montagna, a marine scientist at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. Oil has been gushing into the Gulf of Mexico at a rate of at least 200,000 gallons a day since an offshore drilling rig exploded last month and killed 11 people. On Wednesday, workers loaded a 100-ton, concrete-and-steel box the size of a four-story building onto a boat and hope to lower it to the bottom of the sea by week’s end to capture some of the oil. Crews also set fires at the worst spots on the surface Wednesday to burn off oil.

See more oil spill photos; source – Sacramento Bee