Rockhopper penguin Northern Rockhopper; and the "Eudyptes chrysocome", the Southern Rockhopper. They are separated by their locations of breeding. There are four other species in the genus "Eudyptes": "E. pachyrhynchus", "E. robustus", "E. chrysolophus", and "E. schlegeli". The three subspecies of the rockhopper penguin are believed to have split up because of latitude and watermasses rather than because of geographic distances. Research suggests that during the early Pleistocene, the Southern Ocean was cold and rockhopper populations from the Atlantic and Indian Oceans remained undifferentiated and lived in the same watermass. The mid-Pleistocene climatic transition was associated with the southward migration of frontal
Northern rockhopper penguin drop in the population at Gough Island has been described as equivalent to the loss of 100 birds every day since the 1950s. A study published in 2009 showed that the world population of the northern rockhopper had declined by 90% since the 1950s, possibly because of climate change, changes in marine ecosystems and overfishing for squid and octopus by humans. Other possible factors in the decline include disturbance and pollution from ecotourism and fishing, egg-harvesting, and predation and competition from subantarctic fur seals ("Arctocephalus tropicalis"). Surveys show that the birds are at risk of infection by goose barnacles. House