The 52-hertz whale, colloquially referred to as 52 Blue, is an individual whale of unidentified species that calls at the unusual frequency of 52 hertz. This pitch is at a higher frequency than that of the other whale species with migration patterns most closely resembling the 52-hertz whale's[1] – the blue whale (10 to 39 Hz)[2] and the fin whale (20 Hz).[1] Its call has been detected regularly in many locations since the late 1980s and appears to be the only individual emitting a whale call at this frequency. However, the whale itself has never been sighted; it has only been heard via hydrophones. It has been described as the "world's loneliest whale", though potential recordings of a second 52-hertz whale, heard elsewhere at the same time, have been sporadically found since 2010.[3][4]
52 Hz is equivalent (sharp by 3 cents) to the musical note G#1, which is the 12th lowest key on a conventional 88-key piano keyboard; or, the 4th finger position on the lowest string (E1) of a double bass.
The sonic signature is that of a whale, albeit at a unique frequency. The call patterns resemble neither blue nor fin whales, being much higher in frequency, shorter, and more frequent.[5] Blue whales usually vocalize at 10–39 Hz,[2] fin whales at 20 Hz.[1] The calls of this whale are highly variable in their pattern of repetition, duration, and sequence, although they are easily identifiable due to their frequency and characteristic clustering.[6] The calls have deepened slightly to around 50 hertz since 1992, suggesting the whale has grown or matured.[4]
The migration track of the 52-hertz whale is unrelated to the presence or movement of other whale species.[7] Its movements have been somewhat similar to that of blue whales, but its timing has been more like that of fin whales.[6] It is detected in the Pacific Ocean every year beginning in August–December, and moves out of range of the hydrophones in January–February. It travels as far north as the Aleutian and Kodiak Islands, and as far south as the California coast, swimming between 30 and 70 km (20 and 40 mi) each day. Its recorded distance traveled per season has ranged from a low of 708 km (440 mi) to a high of 11,062 km (6,874 mi) in 2002–03.[8]
Scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution have been unable to identify the species of the whale. They speculate that it could be malformed or a blue whalehybrid.[7] The research team is often contacted by deaf people who wonder whether the whale may also be deaf.[9]
Whatever biological cause underlies its unusually high-frequency voice does not seem to be detrimental to its survival. The whale's survival and apparent maturity indicate it is probably healthy. Still, its call is the only one of its kind detected anywhere and there is only one such source per season.[8] Because of this, the animal has been called the loneliest whale in the world.[5][10][11]
Calls picked up by a sensor in California in 2010 suggest that there may be more than one whale calling at 52 Hz.[3]
History
Approximate map of the 52-hertz whale's migration range
The 52-hertz whale was discovered by a team from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Its call was first detected in 1989, then again in 1990 and 1991.[8] In 1992, following the end of the Cold War, the U.S. Navy partially declassified the recordings and technical specifications of its SOSUS anti-submarine hydrophone arrays, and made SOSUS available for oceanographic research.[6][7] As of 2014[update], the whale had been detected every year since.[12]
In media
Television
The television movie CSI: Immortality written by Anthony E. Zuiker mentions the 52-hertz whale aka The Loneliest Whale by former CSI Gil Grissom played by William Petersen.
Films
The Loneliest, a short mockumentary film about two women searching for the loneliest whale, was made by Lilian T. Mehrel with support from an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation production grant.[13]
The title of the Taiwanese movie 52Hz, I Love You (2017) is inspired by the whale, using it as a metaphor for the loneliness experienced when looking for love.
The feature-length documentary The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52, directed by Joshua Zeman, the director of Cropsey, and executive producers Leonardo DiCaprio and Adrian Grenier, was commercially released by Bleecker Street on July 9, 2021.[15] The film follows Zeman and a group of five scientists and oceanographers on a quest to find the whale off the coast of California. Funded through a Kickstarter campaign,[16] the film received generally positive reviews among critics, holding an approval rating of 86% based on 35 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.[17]Time's Stephanie Zacharek called the film "both invigorating and calming to watch,"[18] while Katie Walsh wrote in the Los Angeles Times that the film is "a modern-day Moby Dick with a conservationist bent" that "surprises, delights and will keep you on the edge of your seat."[19] Sheri Linden of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that "the film's epilogue caps the action with a rapturous surprise",[20] referring to the sighting – complete with film footage – of a blue whale-fin whale hybrid, believed to be the source of the 52 Hz calls.
Music
Montreal-based saxophone player and composer Colin Stetson's 2013 album New History Warfare Vol. 3: To See More Light included a song entitled "Part of Me Apart From You". Though not explicitly written about the 52-hertz whale, when first performing the song live, he has remarked on at least several occasions that the story of the "loneliest whale" resonated deeply with his composition. "This whale is alone in a large body of water, swimming, singing its song, calling for a likeness it will never find," he said by way of introducing the song at a performance at Toronto's Great Hall on 19 May 2013. "When I play this song, I can't help but think about this whale, who right at this very minute is singing alone."[21]
South Korean group BTS's 2015 album The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Pt. 2 includes the track "Whalien 52", which explicitly uses the 52-hertz whale as a metaphor for the alienation from others often felt by adolescents.[22]
The English folk duo Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman included the song "52 Hertz" on their 2015 album Tomorrow Will Follow Today. The song is about the whale and includes the line, "52 Hertz, 52 Hertz, I'm singing a love song that no-one can hear" in the chorus.[23]
Russian rapper Santiz released an album titled "52 Hertz" in 2019 with a track of the same name. Santiz dives into themes of alienation, emotional struggle, and the search for understanding, mirroring the plight of the "loneliest whale."[24]
Books
In 2020, Japanese novelist Sonoko Machida published the novel 52-Hertz Whales, in which the anomalous whale serves as a metaphor for "voiceless" lonely people who find each other by chance.[25] A Japanese film adaptation of the novel premiered in 2024.[26]
In 2014, American writer Leslie Jamison published an essay in The Atavist Magazine about the 52-hertz whale's popular appeal as a metaphor for loneliness and perseverance.[27] The piece was later included in Jamison's 2019 essay collection Make It Scream, Make It Burn.[28]
The 2019 book Song for a Whale by American author Lynne Kelly features a fictional whale known as Blue 55, who the author has stated is directly inspired by the 52-hertz whale;[29] in the novel, Blue 55 sings at a frequency of 55 hertz.[30]
^ ab"Blue Whale". Bioacoustics Research Program. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Archived from the original on 26 February 2015. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
^ ab
Watkins, William A.; Daher, Mary Ann; George, Joseph E.; Rodriguez, David (December 2004). "Twelve years of tracking 52-Hz whale calls from a unique source in the North Pacific". Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers. 51 (12): 1889–1901. doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2004.08.006.
^Yoshikawa, Akiko (10 January 2021). "「52ヘルツのクジラたち」町田そのこさんインタビュー 虐げられる人々の声なき声をすくう" [52-Hertz Whales: An Interview with Sonoko Machida—Uplifting the Voices of the Downtrodden and Voiceless].
