The truth about the creature that caused panic on Spanish beaches

A dramatic moment emerged when a fin emerged from the sea, causing panic among holidaymakers on a beach in Spain.

In a video recently posted by the Daily Mail, locals and tourists can be heard shouting warnings to people to quickly get out of the water in La Antilla, Spain while others are trying to run up the beach for fear of a shark attack.

The animal was filmed struggling between swimmers and children on paddle boards for more than a minute before returning to the ocean. It comes after a series of shark sightings near European beaches in recent weeks.

But local police later said the creature people saw was not a shark but a Cuvier's beaked whale and urged people to remain calm.

'It was not a shark and it was not a killer whale. The animal that visited the people appeared to be a Cuvier's beaked whale, a species that holds the record for deep diving but is very sensitive to sonar. It may have become disoriented and was about to run aground ,' the police said.

Because of its deep diving habits and dislike of boats, Cuvier's beaked whales remain a mystery to scientists. (Photo: Live Science).

Cuvier's beaked whales are one of the most frequently spotted species despite their deep-water habitat.

A Cuvier's beaked whale can dive to depths of 3,000m for more than 2 hours to hunt squid - its favourite prey. No other marine mammal can do the same.

In a study by Dr. Quick, published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, a special case was recorded when a Cuvier's beaked whale dived underwater for 3 hours and 42 minutes, breaking the previous record by more than 1 hour.

Cuvier's beaked whales are still a mystery. Scientists do not know much about these creatures because they spend most of their time underwater and rarely surface.