At this point it is common knowledge that every fish contains at least a small amount of toxic mercury or methylmercury to be specific. While mercury can be produced naturally high mercury levels in fish are a modern problem due to man-made pollution. Industrial activities such as mining and coal-fired power plants release mercury that ends up in our oceans. Once in the water it can be converted into methylmercury which is significantly more dangerous to us. However mercury levels are not evenly distributed among fish and there are certain species that are considered safer to eat because they have less of this toxic compound swimming through their blood.
| Channel | Publish Date | Thumbnail & View Count | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|
 Dr. Eric Berg DC | 2017-10-08 12:00:03 |  235,415 Views |
List of Mercury Fish: Which Fish Should I Eat to Avoid Mercury? – Dr. Berg
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) shellfish such as scallops clams and shrimp have the lowest mercury levels. Additionally many canned fish are also quite low — including sardines anchovies and salmon. When it comes to fish such as salmon which is popular in both canned and fresh form the fresh version has noticeably more mercury than the canned version. Some other fish with low mercury levels include tilapia catfish squid and pollock.
In general small short-lived non-predatory fish that are low on the underwater food chain have the lowest levels of mercury. Smaller fish like sardines aren’t big enough to eat much more than plankton and fish like the popular tilapia for example eat a lot of algae. Predatory fish with longer lifespans like tuna have higher mercury levels because they eat a lot of small fish that have small amounts of mercury that then builds up in the larger longer-lived fish. In short the higher you go on the food chain the more mercury you consume. Tuna live about 15 years so mercury builds up in their tissues over time; sardines only live about five years.
But what accounts for the difference between canned and fresh fish? Typically smaller fish species are used in canned foods. Fish such as salmon have several subspecies: pink salmon are a common choice for canned salmon and they are small fish that average only about 4 pounds. Not surprisingly pink salmon eat a lot of zooplankton. Meanwhile larger Atlantic salmon are often sold fresh and weigh around 10 pounds and their larger size means they can eat other types of fish and shellfish that contain higher levels of mercury.
