Fish as food

Many species of fish are eaten as food.^[1] The species of fish eaten for food include flounder, cod, catfish, pollock, tilapia, snapper, Atlantic salmon. Fish can be prepared in a number of ways (baking, frying, grilling, smoking, steaming).

Globally, fish and fish products provide a normal of about only about 34 calories per capita per day. Dietary contribution of fish is significant in terms of high-quality and easily digested animal proteins.

Eating oily fish having long chain omega-3 fatty acids can reduce inflammation and lower the risk for cardiovascular disease.^[2]

Common species of fish and shellfish used for food[3]
	Mild flavour	Moderate flavour	Full flavour
Delicate texture	Basa, flounder, hake, scup, smelt, rainbow trout, hardshell clam, blue crab, peekytoe crab, spanner crab, cuttlefish, Eastern oyster, Pacific oyster	Anchovy, herring, lingcod, moi, orange roughy, Atlantic Ocean perch, Lake Victoria perch, yellow perch, European oyster, sea urchin	Atlantic mackerel, sardine
Medium texture	Black sea bass, European sea bass, hybrid striped bass, bream, cod, drum, haddock, hoki, Alaska pollock, rockfish, pink salmon, snapper, tilapia, turbot, walleye, lake whitefish, wolffish, hardshell clam, surf clam, cockle, Jonah crab, snow crab, crayfish, bay scallop, Chinese white shrimp	Sablefish, Atlantic salmon, coho salmon, skate, dungeness crab, king crab, blue mussel, greenshell mussel, pink shrimp	Escolar, chinook salmon, chum salmon, American shad
Firm texture	Arctic char, carp, catfish, dory, grouper, halibut, monkfish, pompano, Dover sole, sturgeon, tilefish, wahoo, yellowtail, abalone, conch, stone crab, American lobster, spiny lobster, octopus, black tiger shrimp, freshwater shrimp, gulf shrimp, Pacific white shrimp, squid	Barramundi, cusk, dogfish, kingklip, mahimahi, opah, mako shark, swordfish, albacore tuna, yellowfin tuna, geoduck clam, squat lobster, sea scallop, rock shrimp	Barracuda, Chilean sea bass, cobia, croaker, eel, blue marlin, mullet, sockeye salmon, bluefin tuna