seafood
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What is seafood?
Seafood refers to edible aquatic animals, excluding mammals, found in both freshwater and marine environments. Almost all nontoxic aquatic species are consumed as food. Seafood is a significant source of protein worldwide.
Seafood includes:
* Bony fishes
* Primitive sharks
* Skates
* Rays
* Crustaceans (such as lobsters, crabs, shrimp, prawns, and crayfish)
* Mollusks (including clams, oysters, mussels, scallops, and snails)
* Cephalopod mollusks (squid, octopuses, and cuttlefish)
* Edible jellyfish
* Sea turtles
* Frogs
* Echinoderms (sea urchins and sea cucumbers)4 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What are some common types of seafood?
Seafood includes edible aquatic animals, except for mammals. Seafood is a significant source of protein, offering about 15% of the world's protein intake.
Common types of seafood include:
* Fish Bony fishes, sharks, rays, salmon, codfish, tuna
* Crustaceans Lobsters, crabs, shrimp, prawns, crayfish
* Mollusks Clams, oysters, mussels, scallops, whelks, snails, squid, octopus, cuttlefish
* Echinoderms Sea urchins and sea cucumbersThese seafood options can be prepared in many ways, such as poaching, frying, steaming, or even eaten raw.
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How is seafood different from other kinds of meat?
Seafood, which includes fish, crustaceans, and mollusks, stands out from other meats due to its nutritional profile and culinary characteristics.
Compared to beef or poultry, lean fish muscle offers a similar protein content (18â25% by weight) but with fewer calories. Fish typically has fewer calories per gram of protein than lean meats. Fish proteins are essentially the same as those in other animals, comprising sarcoplasmic, myofibrillar, and connective tissue proteins.
The fat content and type also differentiate seafood. Fish fat, often liquid fish oil, has a lower percentage of saturated fatty acids and is rich in omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, such as EPA and DHA, beneficial for heart health.
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Where does most seafood come from?
Most seafood comes from both wild fisheries and aquaculture (fish farms). Fisheries involve the commercial harvesting of fish, shellfish, and sea mammals, ranging from small-scale operations to large corporations. Fish farms, also known as aquaculture, produce fish, shrimp, shellfish, and seaweed in controlled environments like ponds, tanks, or cages.
The Atlantic and Pacific oceans are major sources of seafood. Countries with the largest harvests include Peru, the United States, Russia, China, Japan, India, and South Korea. Fish farms supply almost half of the worldâs total food fish. The United States imports about 80% of its seafood, with half of that coming from farms in Asia and Latin America.
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How is seafood usually prepared and cooked?
Seafood preparation varies widely. Fish can be cooked whole or cut into steaks, fillets, or chunks. Crustaceans and most mollusks are typically cooked whole and alive. Tougher mollusks are ground, sliced, or pounded to tenderize them.
Many seafood dishes are eaten raw or modified by marination, like sashimi, a Japanese delicacy of thinly sliced fresh fish, often served with wasabi and soy sauce. Sushi is another popular dish consisting of cooked rice flavored with vinegar and garnished with vegetables, egg, or raw seafood.
Worldwide, fish can be poached, sautéed, broiled, baked, deep-fried, or steamed. Seafood, often in combination, is a base for stews, soups, chowders, gumbos, and bisques. Delicate seafoods are prepared with milder seasonings, while robust seafoods get more pronounced seasoning. A major consideration in cooking fish and shellfish is to avoid overcooking.
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What are some benefits and risks of eating seafood?
Seafood offers health benefits and certain risks. Fish is a high-quality source of protein, minerals, and vitamins, including A, D, E, and K, as well as B vitamins, iron, zinc, and choline. Oily fish like salmon, tuna, and cod are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which are beneficial for cognitive development.
However, fish can be susceptible to microbial contamination and may contain pathogenic microorganisms like Salmonella and E. coli. Environmental pollution can introduce mercury and other toxins into the food chain, leading the FDA to recommend that pregnant women avoid certain fish such as shark and swordfish. Some studies have also found high concentrations of endocrine-disrupting chemicals in marine predators such as swordfish and tuna.
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seafood, edible aquatic animals, excluding mammals, but including both freshwater and ocean creatures. Most nontoxic aquatic species are exploited for food by humans. Even those with toxic properties, such as certain blowfish, can be prepared so as to circumvent harm to the consumer.
Fish and other seafood may be humanityâs most important food, after cereals, furnishing about 15 percent of the world populationâs protein intake. Lean fish muscle provides 18â25 percent protein by weight, the equivalent of beef or poultry, but is much lower in calories. In fish one gram of protein is present for 4 to 10 calories, as contrasted with 10â20 calories per protein gram for lean meats and up to 30 for fatty meats.
Seafood comprises all bony fishes and the more primitive sharks, skates, rays, sawfish, sturgeons, and lampreys; crustaceans such as lobsters, crabs, shrimps, prawns, and crayfish; mollusks, including clams, oysters, cockles, mussels, periwinkles, whelks, snails, abalones, scallops, and limpets; the cephalopod mollusksâsquids, octopuses, and cuttlefish; edible jellyfish; sea turtles; frogs; and two echinodermsâsea urchins and sea cucumbers.
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The most commercially important ocean fish are species of salmon, herring, codfish, flatfish (flounder, sole, halibut, turbot), redfish (ocean perch), jack mackerel, tuna, mackerel, and sardine. Major species of freshwater fish are carp, eel, trout, whitefish, pike, pike perch, and catfish. The catch ranges in size from whitebait and baby eels, both about 5 cm (2 inches) long, to bluefin tuna, up to 4.3 metres (14 feet) in length.
Because fish spoils quickly and is thus highly perishable, for most of history the majority of the catch has been dried, smoked, salted, pickled, or fermented when not eaten fresh. Even when these practices are no longer strictly necessary for preservation, the distinctive alterations in taste that they produce have cultivated a continuing demand for fish preserved in these ways.
Fish are cooked whole or cut into steaks, fillets, or chunks. Crustaceans are usually cooked whole, alive, as are most mollusks. Larger, tougher mollusks are ground or sliced and pounded to tenderize the tough flesh. Much seafood is eaten uncooked, either completely raw or somewhat modified by marination.
In addition to flesh, the roe of fishes and some shellfish and the eggs of turtles are eaten. Caviar, the roe of sturgeon, is now synonymous with luxury but was relatively cheap and common until the latter part of the 19th century, when worldwide sturgeon stocks began to decline rapidly.
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A major consideration in cooking fish or shellfish is to avoid overcooking. The rule of thumb is that fish should be cooked 10 minutes per inch, measured through the thickest part of the fish, with an additional 5 minutes required if the fish is cooked in a sauce. The time should be doubled for frozen fish.
The repertory of fish cookery worldwide is immense. Fish may be poached, sautéed, broiled, baked, deep-fried, steamed, or eaten raw. Seafood, often in combination, forms the basis of many savoury stews, soups, chowders, gumbos, and bisques. In general, the more delicate and lean seafoods are prepared with milder seasonings and sauces, while those that are more robust in flavour, with coarser or fattier flesh, receive more pronounced seasoning.