A young killer whale seen swimming off the west coast of Vancouver Island has a name.

A young killer whale seen swimming off the west coast of Vancouver Island has a name.

The Center for Whale Research (CWR) based in Washington state says it has dubbed the latest addition to the K pod as K45 after staff spotted it in a tight group with other family members northeast of Race Rocks, an ecological reserve at the southern end of Vancouver Island.

It's sex is not known.

K-45 was first spotted in April - the first new calf from the pod since 2011.