Good news for orca lovers -- there's a new baby in Puget Sound. Kelley Balcomb-Bartok with the Center for Whale Research is reporting the sighting of a baby orca near San Juan Island. The momma, who's been designated J16 because she belongs to the J pod or family, was seen April 28 babyless, so the new arrival is only days old!

(See an amazing photo of it here.)

The baby, of currently unknown gender, is J16's fourth, which bodes well for the little whale. That's because orcas are contaminated with industrial chemicals, particularly PCBs, which concentrate in fatty tissue and milk. The mothers pass most of those pollutants on to their first and second offspring.

As Ken Balcomb, also of the Center for Whale Research, explained when another baby was announced in March: "The mothers sort of clean themselves out."

The new arrival brings the population to a total of 87. The local orcas were declared endangered in 2005 by the federal government. Besides pollution, a shortage of prey (namely chinook salmon) and disturbance from vessel traffic are among the leading problems plaguing orcas.