For years he has roamed singing unrequited songs of yearning, searching for a soul to share his solitary world. His plaintive love songs have been heard by many yet he has never been seen. He is the loneliest whale in the world.

But although he swims in waters that are populated by thousands of other whales no female ever responds because his voice is unusually high for a whale – about 52 Hertz – which is what researchers have named him.

“We don’t know whether he sounds that way because he’s a hybrid of a blue whale and a fin whale or if he’s a blue whale with a physical deformity that causes him to sing at 52 Hertz,” says [marine biologist Mary Ann Daher].

There are a lot of theories as to what 52 Hertz is: Possibly he is a blue whale from the Atlantic who somehow found himself in the Pacific. Possibly he simply has a morphological physical mutation or injury that has resulted in his call being so distinct. We’re not even sure what his species is, whether fin, blue whale, fin-blue whale hybrid (as happens ), or some rare, undiscovered species of whale.

Regardless of which it is, he swims up to 42 miles a day and in one year covered more than 6,873 miles. Since the U.S. Navy only releases data days after an appearance, scientists haven’t been able to actually spot him in person to determine his species.

Top photo of a blue whale such as 52 Hertz is thought to be, though he has never actually been seen – only heard.

Via Express. Also, check out 52 Hertz’s call, sped up x10 on the PMEL Acoustics Program website.