Is mahi mahi safe during pregnancy?

What does the evidence say about mahi mahi during pregnancy?

1. Mahi mahi, listed by FDA as mahi mahi or dolphinfish, is a Good Choice, capped at one 4-ounce serving a week with no other fish that week. 1
2. Mahi mahi averages 0.178 parts per million of mercury in FDA sampling, sitting between cod at 0.111 and halibut at 0.241. 2
3. Tuna, mackerel, and mahi mahi together account for more than 80 percent of scombroid cases, and scombroid is the most common seafood-borne illness in the United States. 3
4. Histamine builds in fish stored above 4°C and normal cooking temperatures do not destroy it, with symptoms such as rash, flushing, headache, and diarrhea starting within about 2 hours and lasting 12 to 48 hours. 4
5. Fish is properly cooked when the flesh turns clear and separates easily with a fork, with 145°F the reference internal temperature for most seafood. 5

Is mahi mahi safe in each trimester?

• First trimester. Nausea and vomiting from a histamine reaction look a lot like ordinary first-trimester sickness, which makes it harder to tell what is going on. If a reaction comes with flushing, a rash, or a headache within a couple of hours of eating fish, that combination is not morning sickness and is worth a call.
• Second trimester. Mahi mahi is a firm, meaty fish that restaurants often serve seared with a pink centre. Ask for it cooked through. This is also the trimester where the one-serving weekly ceiling is easiest to blow past without noticing, because appetite is back and fish tacos are everywhere.
• Third trimester. Nothing changes about the category or the histamine question late in pregnancy. What does shift is your margin for a bout of vomiting and dehydration, which is harder on you now. Choosing a Best Choices fish for routine meals and saving mahi mahi for an occasional dinner is the simpler path.