BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — Several Brevard beachgoers said they happened upon a sad sight Friday morning — a pygmy sperm whale found dead and stranded.

What You Need To Know

  • A pygmy sperm whale was found dead and washed up on the beach in Indialantic Friday morning

  • The people who found the whale said it was sad to see that it had died

  • Experts estimated that the whale weighed about 800 pounds

Cincinnati resident ​Laura Fangman said she was visiting the Indialantic beach and getting ready for a day of relaxing by the sand when she spotted the animal.

“We just got here yesterday, came for some R-and-R, and just as we were having our coffee, saw it down there,” she said of the whale that had washed ashore in front of her motel.

“It was sad," she said. "It was sad."

Emergency personnel were alerted and once on the scene, police officers and firefighters notified the Hubbs Sea World team of the find.

The whale — a male believed to weigh around 800 pounds — was taken to the group’s Melbourne Beach Research Institute.

“We were able to pick up the animal from the beach — we transported it in our truck and brought it back to our lab,” said Hubbs Sea World research scientist Theresa Jablonski.

She said the next step will be to perform a necropsy to determine how the whale died. The procedure will include examining the whale's organs, looking inside its stomach and try to figure out its age, Jablonski said.

“We’ve been learning about these animals and why they strand for many years, so this will add to our ongoing research on the species.” she said.

Fangman says it was an experience she didn’t expect during her trip to the beach.

“I’ve never seen a whale, so that was interesting, but it was sad,” she said.

Jablonski said that anyone who finds a stranded whale, or other sea life in distress, should call at 888-404-FFWC so experts in marine life can respond more quickly.