Why is the substitution of Red Cod by Blue Cod nutritionally detrimental to the Hoiho?
Answer
Blue cod provides significantly fewer nutrients than red cod.
The dietary substitution driven by availability issues is not an equivalent trade-off for the Yellow-Eyed Penguin's nutritional status. Even though Blue Cod serves as a substitute for the declining Red Cod stock, the text explicitly states that Blue Cod delivers significantly fewer essential nutrients compared to the Red Cod it replaced. This deficiency in nutritional quality, combined with the larger size of the Blue Cod making chick provisioning difficult, places considerable indirect pressure on the species' overall health and breeding success.
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