A new study of conducted by a research team from the Wildlife Conservation Society and the American Museum of Natural History concludes that the the Arabian Sea humpback  whale may be the most isolated humpback population on the planet. The study found out that the Arabian Sea humpback whale population has remained confined  to Arabian Sea region for tens of thousands of years.

The whale is currently classified as “Endangered” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of threatened species. The scientists initially had difficulty in conducting the study of the whale due to a limited amount of research data available. But the authors of a study were able to analyze tissue samples from 67 Arabian Sea humpback whales, focusing on both mitochondrial and nuclear DNA.

The team then compared its genetic analyses with existing data from humpback whale populations in both the Southern Hemisphere and the North Pacific. They found that the Arabian Sea humpback is genetically distinct from the other humpback populations found in the Southern Hemisphere and North Pacific.

According to  the team’s analysis of the gene flow of the creature, the Arabian Sea humpback originated in the Southern Indian Ocean. But it somehow remain isolated in the Arabian Sea more for 70,000 years which contributed to the genetic difference. A fact that’s “remarkable for a species that is typically highly migratory,” the researchers wrote.

Due to the low population of the Arabian Sea humpback and the threats posed to it by mankind, and the researchers recommended that the whale be designated “Critically Endangered” on the IUCN’s Red List.