A rare Beaked whale, one of the deepest-diving whales, was found beached on Gulf Islands National Seashore on Monday afternoon.
© Navarre Beach Fire RescueA rare Beaked whale, one of the deepest-diving whales, was found beached on Gulf Islands National Seashore on Monday afternoon.
An extremely rare whale was found washed up on the beach on Gulf Islands National Seashore Monday afternoon, the second time in as many months that a rare deepwater whale has been found on a Panhandle beach and died as rescuers tried to save it.

The whale Monday was discovered on the beach at Gulf Islands, just east of Navarre Beach. The whale was a species of beaked whale, which is typically a deep-ocean whale and very rarely seen close to the Gulf Coast, according to Britany Baldrica, Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge Marine Mammal Stranding Team coordinator.

"They are a very, very offshore, deep-diving species, they're one of the deepest diving whales," Baldrica said. "So we don't see them close to shore ever, but this animal was extremely close to shore, which is an indicator it was very ill."

The whale was alive when it beached itself but died shortly after rescuers arrived on scene Monday afternoon. The Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's designated Marine Mammal Stranding Team for Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and most of Walton counties, and a team of around 10 volunteers and employees responded to the scene. A necropsy will be performed Tuesday to determine its cause of death.