12 Unhealthy Fish You Need to Avoid and Why

Last Updated on January 7, 2021

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#10 – Orange Roughy

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earthweek.com

Orange roughy, or slimehead as they are generally known in the scientific community, is high in mercury levels. They can live to be 150 years old and they mature slowly and produce late in life.
Orange roughy can take between twenty to forty years to reach sexual maturity. This fact makes it very hard for this fish to have offspring and recover from the heavy fishing.

In addition, Orange roughy is being irresponsibly harvested. Also, they aren’t certified by the Marine Stewardship Council. So, if you see your grocer freezers popping out with it and even mislabeled for “sustainably harvested.” Just walk away and ignore what you see.
Many large and known restaurants refuse to serve it in their menus, one of them is Red Lobster restaurant.

What can you eat instead? If you really can’t do without the orange roughy in your recipes, then you probably should try the yellow snapper or even better go for the domestic catfish.

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#11 – Atlantic Bluefin Tuna

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mainepublic.org

The International Union for Conservation of Nature reported that Atlantic Bluefin Tuna is endangered and will soon become extinct because of the overfishing and unwise harvesting.

According to a recent analysis published by The New York Times, all types of Atlantic Bluefin tuna contain higher levels of mercury. Instead of wasting time and energy in deciding which tuna is best, it’s better to give it all up and switch to a healthier alternative such as Alaska wild-caught salmon.

What can you eat instead? But in case you can’t imagine your life without tuna, you can go for the Canadian or the American tuna. Albacore tuna is caught while young and doesn’t contain high levels of mercury. Of course, don’t forget to stay away from the imported one.

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#12 – Chilean Sea Bass

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One Old Stove

Not all that is said to you is necessarily true. Although the US Department of State says that illegal harvesting is significantly declining in the last years, most of the Chilean sea bass is actually illegally captured by fishermen and are sold in the U.S.