According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, the 50-to-70-foot whale had beached itself on a sandbar about 50 yards out from Service Club Park on Sunday morning.
FOX 13's Kellie Cowan reported it had washed up even closer to the shore early Monday morning and officials had planned to euthanize the whale if it survived the night.
Laura Engleby, the branch chief of the NOAA Marine Mammal Division, confirmed the whale is now deceased.
The whale, weighing about 50,000 to 70,000 pounds, was severely underweight and struggling to stay alive on Sunday, according to FWC.
Engleby said marine officials will pull the whale up on the beach as far as they can, and then take some pictures and measurements to learn as much as they can about the whale and what led to its death before conducting a necropsy.
She added that it's quite unusual for a sperm whale to come this close to shore off the Gulf of Mexico.
"It's really unusual," she said. "The last one I remember being at was in 2008. We get about two sperm whales stranded a year in the Southeastern U.S. Along the Gulf Coast, not as frequently. And so, it's a real rare event."
Agencies will conduct a necropsy to determine what caused this. Then, its body will either be towed back out to sea, hauled off to a nearby landfill, or buried.
The sperm whale is an endangered species, with only one or two found beached along the Gulf Coast every year.
The NOAA estimates there are about 1,000 sperm whales off the Gulf of Mexico, plus or minus a couple hundred. Engleby said while its very sad for a whale to die under these circumstances, it does give wildlife opportunities a rare opportunity to analyze the animal and learn as much about them as they can.
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