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Associated Press - June 23, 2010 11:44 AM ET
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - The sharks, sea turtles and dolphins have disappeared. The coral reefs are dying. All that's left in the Gulf of Mexico are globs on oil.
The National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium in Dubuque is highlighting the oil spill in an exhibit that originally was to show the beauty of the Gulf.
Instead, it's an environmental disaster.
The exhibit includes a 40,000-gallon aquarium, about the size of school bus.
Oil, in the form of window stickers, is sinking and covering the coral. There is no life.
The aquarium is part of the museum's $40 million expansion that opens on Saturday.
Museum Director Jerry Enzler says he wants to visitors to "pause and consider" the delicate balance of life in the ocean.
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