A new orca whale calf spotted in Puget Sound in Washington State is the latest addition to a well-known family of killer whales with a connection to SeaWorld. In 1976, the calfs great-grandmother T046 Wake was one of six orcas captured with the intention of being sold to marine parks and temporarily held by SeaWorld in Budd Inlet near Olympia, Washington.The Pacific Whale Watch Association (PWWA) first saw this new baby whale with a group of orcas on March 20 in the eastern Juan de Fuca Strait. According to PWWAs executive director Erin Gless, the calfs fetal folds and distinctive orange coloration were visible. The fetal folds are creases along the calfs skin that come from being scrunched inside its mothers uterus for about 18 months.Visible fetal folds indicate the calf was born very recently. CREDIT: Tom Filipovic, Eagle Wing Tours (PWWA). These factors are normal and indicate the calf is quite young, likely a week or two at most, Gless said in a statement.The calf has been given the designation T046B3A and was spotted swimming alongside its 14-year-old mother, T046B3 Sedna, who was named after a goddess and the Mother of the Sea in Inuit culture. T046B3A is also Sednas first known calf.Sedna is one of Wakes grand-calf and the familys lineage was almost cut short during that 1976 capture. The late Ralph Munro, a former Washington Secretary of State and an assistant to then-Governor Dan Evans, witnessed the orca captures while he was sailing. Munro then helped file a lawsuit against SeaWorld, which ultimately led to the release of the whales from Budd Inlet several weeks later. The event was the last in a series of orca captures in the 1970s, where an estimated 100 killer whales were taken from the Pacific. Wake and these five other cetaceans were the last orcas to be captured in US waters. The PWWA says that at least 30 killer whales would not have been born without Munros actions. Wake is believed to have had eight calves of her own, 16 grand-calves, and six great grand-calves. Munro died on March 20the same day that this new whale calf was first spotted.T046B3 Sedna with new calf, T46B3A. CREDIT: Sam Murphy, Island Adventures (PWWA). The family is part of a group of orcas called Biggs killer whales or transient killer whales. Unlike the nearby Southern Resident orcas that primarily eat salmon, Biggs orcas feed on marine mammals including porpoises, sea lions, and seals. Their population has grown steadily, with more than 140 calves welcomed in the last 10 years. Research organization Bay Cetology estimates that there are nearly 400 individual whales in the coastal Biggs orca population today. Meanwhile, there are only about 73 Southern Resident orcas left, down from 97 whales in 1996.According to PWWA, local whale watch tours focus on Biggs killer whales and not the endangered Southern Residents.The post Baby orca is a descendent of a whale almost sold to SeaWorld in 1976 appeared first on Popular Science.