Recognizing and Preventing Overexposure to Methylmercury from Fish and Seafood Consumption: Information for Physicians

Table 4

Choose wisely.

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Lowest contaminant levels

 Anchovies^☺

 Arctic char

 Atlantic mackerel (not king mackerel)^☺

 Catfish (U.S. farmed)

 Cod

 Haddock

 Herring^☺

 Perch

 Pollock (fish sticks)

 Salmon (wild)^☺

 Sardines^☺

 Shellfish (oysters (Pacific^☺), shrimp, clams, mussels, scallops)

 Tilapia

 Tuna (Skipjack/“chunk light”, not yellowfin)

 Trout (Rainbow, farmed)^☺

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Medium to high contaminant levels

 Black sea bass^☺

 Grouper

 Halibut

 Lobster

 Mahi mahi

 Orange roughy

 Rockfish/red snapper

 Sablefish/black cod^☺

 Salmon (farmed)^☺, ∞

 Spanish mackerel^☺

 Tuna (albacore^☺/“white”, yellowfin/ahi)

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Highest contaminant levels

 Bluefish^∞

 Croaker (White/Pacific) ^∞

 Eel^∞ (American, European; not Conger eel)

 King Mackerel

 Tuna (Bluefin^∞, Bigeye)

 Shark

 Swordfish

 Tilefish (Gulf of Mexico, not Atlantic)

 Weakfish/Seatrout^∞

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^☺A good source of omega-3 fatty acids.
^∞May contain harmful PCB levels.
Data derived from FDA, WA DOH, CT DPH, and EDF websites (links in resources section).