DAYTONA BEACH SHORES, Fla. -- Beach-goers made a disturbing discovery in Volusia County, Friday. An extremely rare whale had washed ashore.

The animal was found off of Atlanta Avenue in Daytona Beach Shores. Wildlife biologists said it's not often they get to see this type of animals.

Dolphins, sharks and even small right whales are seen close to shore because they feed or swim in the surf or just off-shore, but the whale that stranded itself Friday was supposed to be 30 to 50 miles off-shore in deep water.

Wildlife biologists from Hubbs Sea World and Volusia County loaded the 12-foot, beaked whale onto a trailer just hours after it stranded itself in shallow water.

"He woke me up and said 'there was a whale out here' and I didn't believe him," said Brett Walters, an eyewitness.

The whale quickly drew a big crowd on a perfect beach day, but before people were taking pictures, some of them made an attempt to actually turn the whale around and get it back into the water.

"My husband was down here. I think that it was trying to at first. They were either trying to get it out to the water, or it was trying to get out to the water. It was hard to tell," said Michelle Marcotte, a witness to the beached whale.

The whale died fairly quickly, though, biologists said. A sign it was likely sick or injured. It will provide an opportunity for them to study an animal so rarely seen.

Some species have only been discovered within the last few years.

"We don't know anything about these whales at all because they're deep divers and nobody's really studied them in depth, so it's kind of weird but this is the only way we can really find out about them is when they come up on shore," added Megan Stolen, a biologist.

There was no way to save it. In fact, biologists said it would have had to be euthanized even if it was still alive when they arrived on the scene.