Stranded whale on Vic beach could be rare

A whale that washed up on a beach in Victoria's Gippsland region could be a rare dwarf sperm whale never before spotted in the state's waters.

The 2.42m adult died shortly after she became stranded at Lakes Tyers Beach on Saturday, and there are early indications it belongs to the rarely seen dwarf sperm whale species, the Kogia sima, the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning says.

The whale will be transferred to Melbourne Museum, where the skeleton will be analysed to see if it was a member of the smallest whale species in the world.