big fish: Scenes from the Gulf of Mexico

Based on recently revised estimates, BP's ruptured oil well at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico continues to leak 25,000 to 30,000 barrels of oil a day. The new figures suggest that an amount of oil equivalent to the Exxon Valdez disaster could still be flowing into the Gulf of Mexico every 8 to 10 days. Despite apparent efforts to restrict journalists from accessing affected areas, stories, video and photographs continue to emerge. Collected here are recent photographs of oil-affected wildlife, people and shorelines around the Gulf of Mexico on this, the 51st day after the initial explosion.

Oil covered brown pelicans found off the Louisiana coast and affected by the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico wait in a holding pen for cleaning at the Fort Jackson Oiled Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Buras, Louisiana, June 9, 2010. (Getty Images)

Hermit crabs struggle to cross a patch of oil from the the Deepwater Horizon spill on a barrier island near East Grand Terre Island, Louisiana on Sunday, June 6, 2010. (AP Photo)

A brown pelican coated in heavy oil wallows in the surf June 4, 2010 on East Grand Terre Island, Louisiana. (Getty Images)

Oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill coats marsh grass at the Louisiana coast along Barataria Bay Tuesday, June 8, 2010. (AP Photo)

A controlled burn of oil from the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill sends towers of fire hundreds of feet into the air over the Gulf of Mexico June 9. (U.S. Coast Guard Photo by Petty Officer First Class John Masson)

Workers clean a Brown Pelican covered in oil at a rescue center at a facility set up by the International Bird Rescue Research Center in Buras, Louisiana on Saturday, June 5, 2010. (AP Photo)

Brown Pelicans, covered in oil from BP's Gulf of Mexico oil spill, huddle together in a cage at the International Bird Rescue Research Center in Buras, Louisiana June 6, 2010. (REUTERS)

Tim Kimmel of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service carries an pelican covered in oil from a nesting area to a waiting boat in Barataria Bay, Louisiana June 5, 2010. The pelican was successfully transported to a stabilization center on Grand Isle, Louisiana before being taken to the Fort Jackson Wildlife Rehabilitation Center at Venice, Louisiana for cleaning. (REUTERS)

An exhausted oil-covered brown pelican tries to climb over an oil containment boom along Queen Bess Island Pelican Rookery, 3 miles northeast of Grand Isle, Louisiana June 5, 2010. Wildlife experts are working to rescue birds from the rookery which has been affected by BP's Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and transporting them to the Fort Jackson Rehabilitation Center. (REUTERS)

Oil sheen is seen streaking under the Perdido Pass Bridge from the spill in the Gulf of Mexico off the Alabama coast as viewed from a Coast Guard HC-144A plane Thursday, June 10, 2010 in Perdido, Alabama. (AP Photo)

Clumps of oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill splash in the surf on a beach in Gulf Shores, Alabama on June 4, 2010. (AP Photo)

Oil slicks move toward the beach in Gulf Shores, Alabama, Saturday, June 5, 2010. Oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster has started washing ashore on the Alabama and Florida coast beaches. (AP Photo)

A sea turtle is mired in oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on Grand Terre Island, Louisiana June 8, 2010. (REUTERS)

Patches of oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill are seen from an underwater vantage, Monday, June 7, 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico south of Venice, Louisiana. (AP Photo)

APTN photographer Rich Matthews dives into the water to take a closer look at oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill on June 7, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico south of Venice, Louisiana. (AP Photo)