Look up a fish
Type a name from the menu or the tin. Nicknames work, so ahi, prawns, calamari or black cod will find the right entry. Nothing you type leaves this browser tab.
62 matching fish
Best Choices
Eat 2 to 3 servings a week
- Anchovy
- Atlantic croaker
- Atlantic mackerel
- Black sea bass
- Butterfish
- Catfish
- Clam
- Cod
- Crab
- Crawfish
- Flounder
- Haddock
- Hake
- Herring
- Lobster, American and spiny
- Mullet
- Oyster
- Pacific chub mackerel
- Perch, freshwater and ocean
- Pickerel
- Plaice
- Pollock
- Salmon
- Sardine
- Scallop
- Shad
- Shrimp
- Skate
- Smelt
- Sole
- Squid
- Tilapia
- Trout, freshwater
- Tuna, canned light (includes skipjack)
- Whitefish
- Whiting
Good Choices
Eat 1 serving a week, with no other fish that week
- Bluefish
- Buffalofish
- Carp
- Chilean sea bass / Patagonian toothfish
- Grouper
- Halibut
- Mahi mahi / dolphinfish
- Monkfish
- Rockfish
- Sablefish
- Sheepshead
- Snapper
- Spanish mackerel
- Striped bass (ocean)
- Tilefish (Atlantic Ocean)
- Tuna, albacore / white, canned and fresh or frozen
- Tuna, yellowfin
- Weakfish / seatrout
- White croaker / Pacific croaker
Choices to Avoid
Do not eat during pregnancy
- King mackerel
- Marlin
- Orange roughy
- Shark
- Swordfish
- Tilefish (Gulf of Mexico)
- Tuna, bigeye
This is the U.S. FDA/EPA mercury chart for adults who are pregnant or breastfeeding. One adult serving is 4 oz. It does not answer whether seafood is raw, undercooked, recalled, or handled safely, and cooking does not remove mercury. Check cooking guidance.
For fish caught by family or friends, follow local advisories. If no advisory exists, FDA/EPA advice is to eat only one serving and no other fish that week. Guidance and serving sizes differ by country. Your search stays in this browser.
What the three categories mean
FDA and EPA sort fish into three groups by mercury, and each group carries its own serving rule. A serving is 4 ounces.
- Best Choices. Eat 2 to 3 servings a week. This is the largest group and most everyday fish is in it.
- Good Choices. Eat 1 serving a week, and no other fish that week.
- Choices to Avoid. 7 fish highest in mercury, not recommended during pregnancy.
The point of the advice is which fish and how often, not whether to eat fish at all. FDA and EPA recommend 2 to 3 servings a week from the Best Choices list and describe fish as providing key nutrients that support a child's brain development.
Tuna is four answers, not one
This is where most of the confusion sits, and it is worth being precise because the categories genuinely differ:
- Canned light tuna, including skipjack. A Best Choice, so 2 to 3 servings a week.
- Albacore, sold as white tuna, canned or fresh. A Good Choice, so 1 serving that week and nothing else.
- Yellowfin. Also a Good Choice, same 1 serving.
- Bigeye. On the list to avoid.
Ahi is the trap. The word is used for both yellowfin and bigeye, which sit in different categories, so ahi on a menu is not answerable as written. Searching for ahi in the tool above shows you both entries rather than guessing which one a kitchen meant.
Mercury is a different question from raw fish
These two checks get collapsed into one and they should not be. Mercury is bound in the flesh of the fish, and cooking does not remove it. A fully cooked piece of swordfish carries the mercury it always had.
The reverse is also true: a fish being low in mercury says nothing about whether it was served raw. Salmon is a Best Choice on mercury and raw salmon is still raw fish.
If the fish in question is raw, cured, or seared rather than cooked through, that is the other question, and the sushi roll checker handles it roll by roll. For tuna specifically, the tuna guide covers both halves together.
Fish comes up more than once
The weekly serving rules are the kind of thing that is easy to look up and hard to keep track of across a week. Logging what you ate means the next answer starts from something real.
Common questions
How much tuna can I eat during pregnancy?
It depends entirely on which tuna. Canned light tuna, which includes skipjack, is in the FDA and EPA Best Choices list, so it falls under 2 to 3 servings a week. Albacore, also sold as white tuna, and yellowfin are Good Choices, which means one serving that week and no other fish alongside it. Bigeye tuna is on the list to avoid during pregnancy. A serving is 4 ounces.
Which tuna is safest during pregnancy?
By mercury category, canned light tuna including skipjack is the one placed in Best Choices. That is a statement about mercury only. It does not address whether the tuna is raw, and it does not override anything your care team has told you.
Is ahi tuna safe during pregnancy?
Ahi is the part of a menu that cannot be answered as written, because ahi is used for both yellowfin and bigeye. Yellowfin is a Good Choice, meaning one serving a week. Bigeye is on the avoid list. The same word covers both, so ahi on a menu needs a follow-up question rather than an assumption. This tool shows both entries when you search for ahi.
Does cooking fish reduce the mercury in it?
No. Mercury is bound in the flesh of the fish and cooking does not remove it, so a fully cooked piece of a high-mercury fish carries the same mercury as a raw one. That is why the mercury question and the raw-fish question have to be answered separately rather than one standing in for the other.
Should I stop eating fish during pregnancy?
That is not what the advice says. FDA and EPA recommend eating 2 to 3 servings a week from the Best Choices list, and describe fish as providing key nutrients that support a child's brain development. The advice is about choosing which fish and how often, not about avoiding fish.
Does this tool tell me whether a fish is safe?
No. It reports which FDA and EPA category a fish sits in and the serving rule attached to that category. It does not know your medical history, it does not cover how the fish was prepared or stored, and it does not replace your midwife or doctor.
Related Nouri pages
Sources checked on 9 September 2026
- FDA: Advice about Eating Fish, including the Best Choices, Good Choices and Choices to Avoid lists
- FDA: Questions and answers on the FDA and EPA fish advice, including serving sizes
- EPA: Advice about eating fish and shellfish
- CDC: Safer food choices for pregnant women
The categories and serving rules on this page are the FDA and EPA ones, reported as published. This page is educational, it does not account for your medical history, and it does not replace your midwife or doctor.