What Fish Cannot Be Eaten?

Fish is essential to mankind because you can get omega-3 fatty acids from them. It is the kind of healthy acid that helps our body to be on the healthier side, but due to a lot of issues happening in the world and aquatic ecosystems, heavy metals like mercury ended up in the water and building up in our fish. Low-level poisoning from contaminated seafood is a real threat and can lead us to our demise.

What fish Cannot be eaten? Many types of fish will do you more harm than good. Some fish are predominantly on the higher level of contamination because of mercury. For instance, there is tilapia, Atlantic cod, and catfish, and farmed salmon.

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In this short read, you will find different fish species that are not edible and what makes them different from others.

Tilapia

Many people might be shocked about this, but tilapia is way worse than eating bacon. Studies show that eating farmed fish is leading to highly inflammatory diets.

Tilapia has a very low level of omega-3 fatty acids and has a very high inflammatory omega-6 fatty acid. Sustaining these high inflammatory acids can weaken your body and can develop autoimmune disorders.

It can be linked to different chronic diseases like cancer, diabetes, and heart failure.

It is recommended to eat wild-caught tilapia compared to farmed fish, but that is very unlikely to be found.

Atlantic Cod

Atlantic Cod has come a long way in history, and it is most commonly known for feeding the New World Civilization. But heavy fishing for this kind has taken its toll for over a thousand years.

Even though a female cod can release more than a hundred millions of eggs, only a few can survive adulthood. North Atlantic food webs have changed as a result of the Atlantic Cod collapse. The species is considered to be vulnerable to be extinct in the next few years.

Shark

There are many problems associated with eating sharks. Sharks are incredibly high in mercury, which poses a threat to our health. But it is not only us who will suffer but the whole ocean ecosystem too. Eating sharks can be a huge disadvantage to the stages of the food chain.

For instance, if fewer sharks are around, the species they usually eat like Cownose rays and jellyfish will increase in numbers. Multiple rays will be eating and depleting scallops and other fish.

Hence, there will be a few fish in the oceans for us to eat, placing an economic strain in different coastal communities who depend on it.

Conclusion

Overall, there is plenty of seafood that you cannot eat, and these are just a few of them. Finding safer seafood can be quite challenging because it requires a lot of knowledge and other factors.

You need to consider their sustainability, nutritional value, and the level of contamination with pollutants. Having the right knowledge and awareness of the aquatic life will make a big difference to knowing which fish is edible and which are not.