Every fan of seafood loves a delicious meal of fresh fish, mussels, and a whole offering of sea-based dishes. While seafood is a healthy option, not every dish is created equal when it comes to your well-being. Certain types of seafood are better for your health than others. Read on to discover which seafood dishes are the best and worst for your health.

The Best Seafood Dishes For Your Health

Tuna Tower

The tuna tower is a fun stack of sushi rice, raw tuna, avocado, and crabmeat salad. It is drizzled with a little mayo sauce and sometimes other sauces. The ingredients do vary in this dish. Here is what makes this dish healthy: tuna has protein, avocado contains healthy fats, and rice is an easy to digest carbohydrate. So dig in and enjoy this fun presentation of seafood.

Fresh or Canned Salmon

Wild-caught salmon is one the healthiest fishes you can eat. Salmon provides essential fats and high protein content. Fresh salmon is your best choice, while canned food is convenient and still nutritious, but does not contain the same life forces as fresh fish nor the same flavor. No matter how you cook salmon, every bite has healthy benefits.

Shrimp with Sugar-Free Sauce

Shrimp paired with a sugar-free sauce, such as zero-sugar tartar or cocktail sauce, is a great choice filled with protein and low calories. Shrimp also contains nutrients like magnesium, potassium, and phosphorus. Steaming or grilling the shrimp is the healthiest option for this simple dish with dipping sauce.

Grilled Sardines

These tiny fish are among the most healthy seafood dishes. Sardines are hearty in omega-3, calcium, and vitamin D. Additionally they have some of the lowest levels of mercury of any fish. Grilling sardines are a great way to bring out their flavor and add a hint of smoky char to your meal. Eat as is, or add to salads, pizzas, sandwiches, or any dish that calls for an ultra umami bite.

Salad With Anchovies

Anchovies with salad are a healthy option with a full salty and umami flavor. These little fish are cured in saltwater and pair well with many savory foods. They contain protein, vitamin B, and iron and can boost energy. Anchovies are a great compliment to the nutritive properties of fresh, raw vegetables.

The Worst Seafood Dishes For Your Health

Chilean Sea Bass

Chilean Sea Bass is a sought-after fish that is delicious and fatty fish with tender, flaky meat. However, it contains high levels of mercury. This fish is best to avoid or enjoy on infrequent occasions. The Environmental Defense Agency recommends that adults eat no more than two servings of it per month, and children enjoy just one serving per month.

Atlantic Cod

Atlantic cod is filled with healthy fats and is often touted for its nutritional benefits. It is a fishy-tasting seafood that some love and others consider unappetizing. There are many types of cod, and not all of them fall into the category of seafood to avoid. Atlantic cod makes it to the worst list because it is one step above becoming endangered. To add a little more reason to leave this fish in peace, it does contain mercury.

Sharks, Skates, and Rays

The main reason for avoiding these three is that overfishing is upsetting the ocean ecosystem. Sharks eat jellyfish, and with fewer sharks swimming in the sea, the number of jellyfish increases. Skates, rays, and sharks take years to mature, so it is best to leave them alone and avoid harvesting them before they reach reproductive maturity. Besides, they all contain mercury.

Octopus

Octopus is touted as healthy seafood; however, farming them is not sustainable as they need to eat three times their weight. They are also carnivores, which puts a strain on other marine species. Octopus are also extremely intelligent; yet another reason that some may find these tentacled sea creatures a food to avoid. Perhaps it is best to leave them off our plates and in the sea.

Orange Roughy

This fish can live up to 200 years. They are delicious with a sweet and very delicate flavor. However, because of their extremely long lifespans, they accumulate many toxins, especially mercury, which negatively affects the human body. It is not sustainable to eat them because they live for so long, on average 130 years, making harvesting the orange roughy a questionable route.

The information here is meant to act as a guideline for your own health as well as the best interest of the ocean’s environment. Enjoy the flavor and benefits of salmon, tuna, shrimp, sardines, and anchovies, and let the worst seafood options be an occasional treat or something to skip altogether. If this topic is important to you, there is plenty of great information with further details about seafood and health.