Earlier this week, several new sea animals found their home at Como Park Zoo and Conservatory.

These animals are made of colorful plastic debris collected from ocean shorelines.

On Monday, Como Park began installing the “Washed Ashore: Art to Save the Sea” exhibit, which will officially debut Saturday and be on display through Oct. 21, in an effort to raise awareness of the harm plastic trash has on ocean ecosystems.

The debris — plastic toys, buoys, toothbrushes, bottles, bottle caps, hairbrushes, flip flops and more — was collected on ocean shorelines by thousands of volunteers with Washed Ashore, a nonprofit that builds art from its gathered marine debris for exhibits that travel across the nation.

Washed Ashore exhibits have been displayed at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, Denver Zoo and several SeaWorld parks, among others.

Lindsay Sypnieski, events coordinator for Como Park, said she hopes that, after seeing the exhibit, visitors have “second thoughts” about how their actions may hurt oceans.

“(The statues) really make people stop and think where their garbage is going,” Sypnieski said. “Even we here in Minnesota have a direct connection to what happens in the ocean.”

Signs next to statues will denote information about how consumer habits affect oceans, as well as tell the “story that we need to be better stewards of the earth,” Sypnieski said.

A 16-foot-long parrot fish statue, named “Priscilla,” and a 9-foot-long whale tail, named “Hugo,” are among the five larger statues on display on the zoo and conservatory grounds. Smaller statues will also be on display inside Como Park’s buildings.

The exhibit is funded in part by Minnesota’s Clean Water, Land and Legacy fund.