A 54-foot Fin Whale that stranded on a beach in Cornwall yesterday could provide an 'amazing opportunity' extract data on how healthy the sea is. 

The whale was first discovered at around 7am on Wednesday morning, having been stranded on the early morning high tide, and already was dead. 

Before being discovered dead 54-foot Fin Whale, which is the second largest species of whale on the planet, was reportedly spotted behaving strangely in the waters around Fistral yesterday. 

A post-mortem was carried out yesterday by the Cornwall Marine Pathology team and the investigation into how the whale became stranded is ongoing. 

In a video update posted by the Cornwall Wildlife Trust, Anthea Hawtrey-Collier, Project Officer for the Marine Strandings Network said: "We don't know if it's male or female. We've had a whole team of marine strandings volunteers down here measuring and collecting data and photographing it.

"It's a really amazing opportunity for us to get this awesome data and understand the health of our seas from a dead animal on the beach. We can't get that data from them when they're live out at sea. 

"It's a very sad sight to see."

Anthea went on to state that the police were at the scene and had put up a cordon to keep people away due to the fact that the dead whale was a bio-hazard. She also explained that the information from the post-mortem would help investigators understand how the whale died, how healthy the sea is, and how these animals are faring in the waters around Cornwall. 

A spokesperson for Cornwall Council said: "We are working with all partners including police, coastguard and RNLI , to coordinate the removal of the fin whale from Fistral Beach, which is an incredibly challenging and difficult operation requiring specialist machinery.

"A cordon will remain in place around the whale while it remains on the beach, and the public are asked to stay away from the area."

A spokesperson for Devon and Cornwall Police said: "A number of emergency services and partner agencies are currently on Fistral Beach where a deceased Fin Whale was found yesterday.

"A cordon remains in place and members of the public are asked to avoid the area at this time."