What’s In Your Seafood?

While on my journey to becoming a complete vegetarian, I am sort of wading at pescetarian (seafood only diet when it comes to eating meat). I have no problems with that due to the fact that I absolutely love seafood. However, I did become aware of the unfortunate mercury levels in the sea animals due to pollution of in the oceans. Therefore, I took to NRDC to help figure out which animals have the most mercury and which I should probably stay away from. Also, I was also concerned about the endangered species in the ocean from overfishing. Luckily, this list indicates which spieces are endangered as well which is good to know as well. I was completely heartbroken to find that my treasured salmon is endangered!

Seafood Mercury Levels
* Fish in Trouble! These fish are perilously low in numbers or are caught using environmentally destructive methods.
** Farmed Salmon may contain PCB’s, chemicals with serious long-term health effects.

LEAST MERCURY
Enjoy these fish:

• Anchovies
• Butterfish
• Catfish
• Clam
• Crab (Domestic)
• Crawfish/Crayfish
• Croaker (Atlantic)
• Flounder*
• Haddock (Atlantic)*
• Hake
• Herring
• Mackerel (N. Atlantic, Chub)
• Mullet
• Oyster
• Perch (Ocean)
• Plaice
• Pollock
• Salmon (Canned)**
• Salmon (Fresh)**
• Sardine
• Scallop*
• Shad (American)
• Shrimp*
• Sole (Pacific)
• Squid (Calamari)
• Tilapia
• Trout (Freshwater)
• Whitefish
• Whiting

 

MODERATE MERCURY
Eat six servings or less per month:

• Bass (Striped, Black)
• Carp
• Cod (Alaskan)*
• Croaker (White Pacific)
• Halibut (Atlantic)*
• Halibut (Pacific)
• Jacksmelt
• (Silverside)
• Lobster
• Mahi Mahi
• Monkfish*
• Perch (Freshwater)
• Sablefish
• Skate*
• Snapper*
• Tuna (Canned
• chunk light)
• Tuna (Skipjack)*
• Weakfish (Sea Trout)

 

HIGH MERCURY
Eat three servings or less per month:

• Bluefish
• Grouper*
• Mackerel (Spanish, Gulf)
• Sea Bass (Chilean)*
• Tuna (Canned Albacore)
• Tuna (Yellowfin)*

 

HIGHEST MERCURY
Avoid eating:

• Mackerel (King)
• Marlin*
• Orange Roughy*
• Shark*
• Swordfish*
• Tilefish*
• Tuna (Bigeye, Ahi)*

I hope this helps! Please be conscious of what you’re ingesting. When in doubt, you could always bookmark this page and use it as a reference when food shopping or when you are out to eat at your favorite restaurant!

photo credit: scienceblogs.com

photo credit: http://www.ariaprene.com