CHRISTCHURCH: The body of a spade-toothed whale a species so rare it has never been seen alive appears to have washed up on a New Zealand beach, scientists say.

The remains of the obscure, five-metre long, beaked creature were found near a river mouth in southern Otago province on July 4, government researchers said.

It was identified by marine-mammal experts from New Zealand`s Department ofConservationandthenationalmuseum, Te Papa, as a male spade-toothed whale.

A DNA investigation has been launched to confirm its classification, the scientists said.

`Spade-toothed whales are one of the most poorly known large mammalian species of modern times,` said the conservation department`s coastal Otagooperations manager, Gabe Davies.

`Since the 1800s, only six samples have ever been documented worldwide, and all but one of these was from New Zealand,` Davies said in a statement.

`From a scientific and conservation point of view, this is huge.` The find was fresh enough to offer the first opportunity for a spade-toothed whale to be dissected, the conservation department said. The species is `so rare next to nothing is known about them`, it said.

The body of the whale has been placed in cold storage and genetic samples have been sent to the University of Auckland as curators of the New Zealand Cetacean Tissue Archive. It may take several weeks or months for the DNA to be processed and a final identification confirmed.-AFP