You can safely eat a variety of low‑mercury fish while pregnant, and most guidelines actually encourage 2–3 servings per week because of the benefits for your baby’s brain and eye development.

Safe fish you can eat

Aim for cooked, low‑mercury fish 2–3 times per week (about 8–12 oz total).

Good choices include:

  • Salmon (wild or responsibly farmed; rich in omega‑3s).
  • Trout and freshwater trout.
  • Sardines, anchovies, herring.
  • Shrimp.
  • Pollock.
  • Tilapia.
  • Cod.
  • Catfish.
  • Canned light tuna (not albacore).
  • Sole, flounder, haddock, ocean perch, hake, black sea bass, clams, crab, lobster, crawfish.

Most health agencies suggest:

  • 2–3 servings (8–12 oz) per week from this “best choices” list.
  • Mix different types rather than eating the same fish every time.

Simple example day

  • Lunch: Salmon salad sandwich.
  • Dinner later in the week: Baked tilapia with vegetables.
    Together these could count as two of your weekly servings.

Fish to limit

Some fish are okay but should be eaten less often because they have moderate mercury levels.

Try to keep these to about 1 serving (up to ~6 oz) per week:

  • Albacore (white) tuna and tuna steaks (including yellowfin).
  • Halibut, grouper, snapper, mahi‑mahi, Chilean sea bass, monkfish, bluefish, Spanish mackerel, striped bass (ocean).

If you eat one of these in a week, choose low‑mercury fish for the rest of the week.

Fish to completely avoid

These have the highest mercury levels and should not be eaten while pregnant.

Avoid:

  • Shark.
  • Swordfish.
  • King mackerel.
  • Tilefish from the Gulf of Mexico.
  • Bigeye tuna.
  • Marlin and orange roughy.

If you eat local freshwater fish (from lakes/rivers) and there’s no safety advisory, most guidelines say to limit that to about 6 oz in a week and then avoid other fish that week.

Sushi, raw fish, and safety tips

Because pregnancy lowers your immune defenses, food‑borne infection is riskier for you and your baby.

  • Avoid raw fish and shellfish (sushi with raw fish, oysters, ceviche).
  • Cook fish until it is opaque and flakes easily with a fork; shrimp and lobster should be opaque and pearly.
  • Skip refrigerated smoked fish (like lox) unless it is in a cooked dish.
  • Store and reheat leftovers properly to reduce food poisoning risk.

Quick HTML table you can screenshot or save

Here’s a simple table you could keep on your phone:

html

<table>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Category</th>
      <th>Fish</th>
      <th>How often?</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>Best choices (low mercury)</td>
      <td>Salmon, trout, sardines, anchovies, herring, shrimp, pollock, tilapia, cod, catfish, canned light tuna, sole, flounder, haddock, crab, lobster, clams, crawfish, hake, black sea bass</td>
      <td>2–3 servings (8–12 oz) per week total</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Good but limit</td>
      <td>Albacore/white tuna, tuna steaks, yellowfin tuna, halibut, grouper, snapper, mahi-mahi, Chilean sea bass, monkfish, bluefish, Spanish mackerel, ocean striped bass</td>
      <td>About 1 serving (≤6 oz) per week</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Avoid</td>
      <td>Shark, swordfish, king mackerel, tilefish (Gulf of Mexico), bigeye tuna, marlin, orange roughy</td>
      <td>Do not eat in pregnancy</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Preparation rules</td>
      <td>Only eat well-cooked fish and shellfish; avoid raw sushi, ceviche, and refrigerated smoked fish unless cooked</td>
      <td>Follow throughout pregnancy</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

Little “forum‑style” note

Many moms‑to‑be in recent forum threads say they were more scared of fish than they needed to be, then later learned that 2–3 servings of low‑mercury fish a week is actually recommended, not risky.

If you tell me what you usually like to eat (for example: lots of tuna, or you love sushi, or you mostly eat frozen fish), I can sketch a simple weekly fish plan tailored to you. Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.