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Orange roughy

	Eco-Worst Choice
	Avoid or eat infrequently until improvements are made

Health Alert

Elevated levels of mercury.

Adults and kids should limit their meals.

Related Fish

Recommendations
Eco-Best Farmed striped bass Catfish from U.S.	Eco-Worst All orange roughy

Recommendations

Details About Orange roughy

a.k.a. Hoplostethus atlanticus, red roughy

Health Details

This is an Eco-Worst choice. If you decide to eat it, we recommend the following due to elevated mercury levels:

Women should eat no more than 2 meals per month
Men should eat no more than 1 meal per month
Kids age 6-12 should eat no more than 1 meal per month
Kids up to age 6 should eat no more than ½ meals per month

More about seafood and health »

Eco Details

Orange roughy mature at a very slow rate and live extremely long lives. Intensive exploitation in past decades has greatly decreased populations.
Management in New Zealand and Australia is good, but unregulated landings by other countries continue.

Nutritional Information

Serving = 100 g of raw edible food, wild species.

	Amount per serving
Calories	69 g
Total Fat	0.70 g
Total Protein	14.7 g
Omega-3	0.02 g
Cholesterol	20 mg
Sodium	63 mg

Source: USDA

More About Orange roughy

Also called the slimehead in its native New Zealand, the orange roughy is actually bright brick-red (which pales to orange after it dies) with a blue belly. A sedentary fish that dwells in deep cold waters, it is the longest-living fish (up to 149 years) but grows very slowly, to about 2 feet (61 cm) in length.

Commercial Sources

Orange roughy are found in the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific Oceans. In the eastern Atlantic, they range from Iceland to South Africa. In the Indo-Pacific, they are distributed around New Zealand and off Chile.

The main sources of orange roughy are New Zealand and Namibia. Orange roughy sold in the U.S. market are primarily from New Zealand, China, Namibia and Australia.

Capture Methods

Orange roughy come from marine fisheries, not fish farms. They are primarily caught with bottom trawls.

This guide is produced in collaboration with the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

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