A young whale has been washed into rocks at Maketu and will now be put down.
A Department of Conservation (DOC) spokesman said reports of a beached whale in the area were actually that of a dolphin being washed up on the rocks injured.
However, another DOC spokesman at the beach has since clarified the matter, explaining the 'dolphin' was in fact a juvenile Cuvier's beaked whale.
The spokesman said the decision had been made to euthanase the young animal, as it was now struggling to breathe.
The whale had been freed from the rocks it had been washed up on but struggled on a sandbar while trying to get back out to sea.
A reporter at the beach said DOC workers and local residents were in the water trying to help the animal, he said.
Project Jonah general manager Darin Grover said he received the initial phonecall this morning but the caller was unable to specify whether the animal was a dolphin or whale.
''You've got several species of dolphin which look like whales, then you've got those species that overlap. It was very hard to make out from the description.''
Mr Grover said he had passed the stranding onto local DOC staff, who were now leading the rescue.