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© Atlantic Beach Police/Florida Wildlife Conservation CommissionPygmy sperm whale calf
A mother Kogia whale and her calf died Sunday after beaching themselves on Neptune Beach, according to a biologist at Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Allison Perna, a marine mammal biologist, said a person on Neptune Beach spotted the two whales about 7:50 a.m. and alerted the commission. The person reported seeing sharks in the water, but witness accounts of the mother being beaten hasn't been confirmed.

Two biologists with the commission and a team from the Jacksonville Zoo marine mammal response team attempted to rescue the beached whales, but were unsuccessful.

Biologists will now do a necropsy on the animals for clues as to what caused the beaching.