Is sea bass safe during pregnancy?

What does the evidence say about sea bass during pregnancy?

1. FDA puts black sea bass in Best Choices while Chilean sea bass, also called Patagonian toothfish, and ocean striped bass both sit in Good Choices. 1
2. Chilean sea bass averages 0.354 parts per million of mercury across 74 FDA samples, against 0.167 for the saltwater black, striped, and rockfish group, roughly double. 2
3. A typical adult serving is 4 ounces weighed before cooking, with up to 12 ounces of fish a week in pregnancy, which works out to 2 to 3 servings from Best Choices or 1 from Good Choices. 3
4. Eating a variety of fish beats eating the same species repeatedly, and larger, longer-lived fish are the ones that carry more mercury than their smaller relatives. 4
5. Sea bass is done when the flesh has turned clear and separates easily with a fork, with 145°F the reference internal temperature for most seafood. 5

Is sea bass safe in each trimester?

• First trimester. Menus rarely say which sea bass they mean, and the answer changes the weekly allowance threefold. Asking the server or the fishmonger is the whole trick. If nobody can tell you, defaulting to the once-a-week option is the cautious call and costs you nothing.
• Second trimester. Chilean sea bass, also sold as Patagonian toothfish, is the one to watch: it is a deep-water, slow-growing, long-lived fish, and its mercury average is roughly double that of the black and striped bass group. Save it for an occasional dinner rather than a regular order.
• Third trimester. The categories do not shift in late pregnancy. What is worth checking now is whether your one Good Choices slot each week is going to sea bass while your Best Choices meals have quietly dropped off. Steady low-mercury fish matters most in these weeks, so review the whole week rather than the single meal.