10 Fish You Could Get In Trouble For Eating

Adding more fish to your meal plan can be challenging, simply because there are so many options with many of them being very, very different. You might love cod but hate salmon, look forward to a fish fry but find your stomach turning at the idea of tuna salad. Now, add in the fact that there are some underrated fish that you should be eating more of, but there are even more types of fish that you should think twice about before buying. Reasons for that vary. Some types are associated with some pretty harsh side effects, some are linked to high levels of mercury, and in some cases, there are fish that you could get in trouble for catching, buying, or eating.

That's because some of the fish that might make it to your plate are endangered or banned — and the rules aren't the same from country to country. Salmon is just one example of that, and even though you might hear that you should opt for wild-caught salmon over farm-raised, there are some places where farm-raised salmon is banned outright.

With that in mind, let's talk about some of the fish that you can't — or shouldn't — get in the U.S. We'll get into some of the fish that are off-limits, banned, or endangered in other countries as well. Will it change the way you think about some of the fish you might find on the menu in the States? It might just be some food for thought.

There's a good chance that you may have heard of a dish called Cajun redfish or blackened redfish because it was a pretty big deal. Blackened redfish was so popular that it ended up leading to a massive fishing ban amid devastation to redfish numbers. Back in 2008, The New York Times headed out into the waters around Florida, looking for the redfish that they'd heard had become incredibly elusive. They found only a handful of these previously prolific fish, and today, the redfish population is still low enough that it's subject to some strict fishing regulations. Although regulations vary by state, they're almost unanimously strict, and sharing precise guidelines is difficult because fish populations are constantly being assessed and guidelines adjusted. 

In 2017, catching and selling redfish in many states was completely illegal. Since then, regulations have shifted ... but not too much. In many states, anglers are restricted to taking between one and three fish between about 16 and 26 inches, and that's a massive change: In the late 1980s, fishermen were pulling up to 12.7 million pounds of redfish from the Gulf of Mexico each year. 

Redfish might be restricted, but there's good news for anyone who loves that Cajun spice profile: Intrepid chefs have, of course, adapted it to everything from Cajun blackened chicken to other fish, like blackened cod. As of 2023, redfish populations have been recovering, and it's possible that someday, you'll find this back on the menu.

Back in 2019, Chicago's Tsuki Japanese Restaurant and Lounge got some major attention from the city's Department of Public Health and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The problem was that they were serving fugu, a type of blowfish that can be deadly if incorrectly prepared. The Chicago restaurant sourced the fish from Japan, but outside of the strict guidelines for importing the fish and ensuring the safety of diners.

Proper fugu preparation is something that master chefs go through rigorous training and licensing for. You'll have a hard time finding fugu in the U.S. due to these import and preparation requirements. Even in Japan, the dish is served with reverence and restrictions. Becoming licensed to prepare and serve fugu is a two-year process in which chefs train to use knives specifically designed for this fish, and practice on less-than-perfect specimens. The training processes have been in place since the 1940s, and yes, people have died — including 88 people in 1965.

This is a case where there's no exaggeration about the dangers of dying from eating this fish, either. They contain a toxin called tetrodotoxin, which causes a laundry list of symptoms that starts with numbness in the mouth, and then escalates into weakness, and digestive issues like vomiting and diarrhea. Usually, this ends in respiratory failure.

We all know that the oceans are a weird place, and there are a lot of strange creatures living down there. The aptly-named goliath grouper is one of those fish, and these monstrosities not only look like they swam right out of the pages of a Southern gothic horror novel, but throughout their 30-odd-year lifespan, they can reach up to 8 feet long and weigh as much as 800 pounds. Photos of divers beside these massive fish are hilarious ... until you learn that they're ambush predators who can and will consume their prey whole.

Unfortunately, these gigantic fish have been rapidly declining in number due to both overfishing and a loss of their natural habitats, which has led to massive restrictions on how many can be caught. In 2023, Florida held a lottery to see who was going to get one of the permits that were necessary to legally harvest one of the 200 grouper that the state was allowing to be caught. In federal waters, however, they were still completely off-limits. 

It's still found on the menu in places throughout the Caribbean, but there are concerns over how much mercury the fish contains. Interestingly, back in 2019, goliath groupers were in headlines for another reason: They were being studied under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to see if they could be used as underwater lookouts ... if, that is, we learn how they communicate.

In case you've ever looked around and wondered if people were always this way, let's try to answer that. Yes, they were. Back in 1939, one guy once bragged about eating a live goldfish and kicked off a nationwide trend that took off in a big way. The whole thing eventually died out after groups like The Animal Rescue League got involved, and even someone who thinks they're "just" goldfish has to admit it was getting out of hand, with record-setting numbers of goldfish being swallowed by a single person in a single sitting. That record was reportedly 89 goldfish.

Are people still weird? Absolutely, and in 2014, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) of the UK was making headlines when it needed to remind people taking part in the viral "Neknomination" craze that it was still illegal to eat live goldfish. The RSPCA in the UK and the Northern Irish branch of the organization, the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ISPCA), had gotten multiple reports that eating live goldfish was once again being done as part of viral challenges.

And yes, people have been prosecuted for it. In 2015, a 22-year-old Welsh man who uploaded a video of his live fish-eating escapades was handed fines and a three-year suspension from owning animals. In 2017, two more people spent 18 weeks in jail and were given a year-long probation after eating a goldfish and uploading the video to Facebook.

Tilefish has the dubious distinction of being an edible fish with the highest amounts of mercury, but shark is pretty high up on the list, too. Eating shark meat is actually perfectly legal, and while you're probably going to want to limit just how much you eat because of the high mercury content, there's nothing else wrong with it. There is, however, another problem, and that's a practice called finning.

Shark fins are highly valued, and the practice of catching sharks, removing their fins, and then re-releasing them to die a pretty awful death is absolutely illegal — and, it's still widely practiced. Estimates on how many sharks die this way are as high as 100 million per year, and in 2023, an Al Jazeera expose uncovered a massive shark fin trade that was going between the U.S. and countries in South America. It's hard to watch, with piles and piles of the carcasses of dead and de-finned sharks being simply discarded.

The documentary also found that yes, shark fin soup could still be ordered at U.S. restaurants, and yes, they were serving real shark fins in dishes that usually aren't advertised on the menu. Part of the problem in cracking down on the industry is that shark fins can be dried for easy transport, and the wording of laws surrounding the import of shark fins remains iffy and unclear. International organizations are, however, working to restrict the trade even more, and what will come of that remains to be seen.

While it might seem like a great way to protect stocks of wild fish is to eat more farm-raised fish, the issue isn't that straightforward. There are many factors to consider about farm-raised fish, from affordability and environmental impact to nutritional values. Salmon farms can also present some major problems when fish escape, and it happens. About a quarter of a million fish escaped from a farm in Washington State in 2017, and those kinds of numbers can devastate wild populations and upset ecosystems. 

Interestingly, some countries still promote raising salmon in ocean pens, while others — and some U.S. states — have banned farm-raised salmon entirely. Those who have banned them include Denmark and Southern Argentina, with places like Norway and Scotland putting so many restrictions on farms that it's a tough industry to manage.

That massive fish escape in 2017? That actually kicked off a movement toward banning ocean-based fish farms in Washington, and it's now outlawed across the Pacific Northwest. Those who speak out against farmed fish cite a laundry list of issues that include not only the potentially devastating consequences of escapes, but pollution, the spread of disease that comes with closely confined fish, damage to an area's ecosystem and natural biodiversity, and findings that suggest fish farms aren't just breeding fish — they're also the perfect environment for sea lice. Farm-raised fish, it seems, aren't the straightforward solution they were long touted to be.

Beluga caviar has a pretty fascinating history as a delicacy reserved for the rich and powerful — and it's been like that since the 13th century. Today, caviar still has an image as the stuff eaten at the kind of parties that have a black tie dress code, but beluga caviar in particular is almost impossible to find in the U.S. That's because the industry is heavily regulated due to overfishing and overharvesting of wild sturgeon, which were forced nearly to extinction. 

Sturgeon are incredible creatures: They remain largely unchanged from the specimens that were swimming in the world's oceans about 250 million years ago, can live for up to a century, and records have been found of sturgeon that weigh up to 3,000 pounds. Because the species was at risk of disappearing completely, importing beluga caviar is still illegal. Today, a few places are producing farm-raised beluga caviar, including Sturgeon Aquafarms in Florida. Caviar that comes into the U.S. is, in theory, beluga-free, but there's a massive footnote to this.

In 2023, a study published in "Current Biology" (via ScienceDaily) revealed that imported caviar sourced from regions that have historically produced beluga caviar — specifically, countries like Romania and Bulgaria — are still being harvested from protected species. The impact on wild populations of sturgeons could be devastating, and it brings up important questions about how much we really know about what we're eating.

The poaching of Chilean sea bass has been a problem for a long time, and in 2022, the U.S., the UK, and Russia were caught up in a massive argument over this fish. According to reporting by NBC Boston, the U.S. was upset that Russia was fishing the coast of one of the islands controlled by the UK. The waters off the coast of South Georgia were a long-standing protected area until Russia was accused of ignoring all the agreements put into place to protect the fish. These protections were crucial to stabilizing fish populations, which have often been targeted by illegal fishing operations.

Yes, you can still source Chilean sea bass in stores and restaurants, but it's highly regulated — and the U.S. Department of State has issued advisories suggesting that restaurants and customers alike make sure the fish being purchased is legally caught. It's estimated that in the year 2000 alone, 32,000 tons — or more — of Chilean sea bass were illegally fished from the waters around Antarctica, and that's the sort of thing that leads to endangered species.

The State Department suggests that anyone buying Chilean sea bass should ask for documentation that it was legally fished under the official guidelines. Thankfully, there are other alternatives that you might want to consider ordering and buying instead. Try the similarly-flavored sablefish (also known as black cod) for a more sustainable, affordable, equally versatile, and less regulated option. 

Even though southern-style catfish nuggets and grits might be a favorite for some, catfish dishes are not universally embraced. For starters, these fish aren't considered kosher under Jewish dietary laws. The reason is pretty interesting, and it's simply because they don't have scales. Other types of scaleless, finless fish — like sharks — are also not considered kosher, although interestingly, the historical record suggests that catfish were not as widely avoided as other types of non-kosher meats, even dating back to the Iron Age. 

There's another place where you could get into trouble for catfish, and that's India. In 2023, there was a major crackdown on those raising African catfish. They had been banned for a long time, and because of their ability to survive in shallow, muddy, and poor-quality waters, they became a problematic and invasive species after they were introduced at some point in the 1980s. 

Anyone found raising or selling these carnivorous, highly adaptable catfish could face legal action, and in 2024, authorities seized nearly 1,800 pounds of fish. In addition to the havoc they could cause on the environment, these fatty fish have been linked to serious health problems including cardiac arrest.

Here's a great example of how different cultures view culinary traditions very differently. In Japan, ikizukuri is considered the height of respect, a way to honor the life of the animal that gave theirs to sustain yours, and a recognition that all life is fleeting. Outside of Japan, however, it's more than a little controversial. What is it? Eating seafood that's still alive, or so recently killed that it's still moving. 

It's not just controversial in some countries, it's outright illegal. Both Australia and Germany have banned the practice, but it's still being introduced to a wider audience thanks to social media and viral videos.

Various countries have tried to crack down on the idea of eating live fish and seafood, and some have been trying to prosecute under animal abuse laws. That proved tricky, though: In 2006, the FBI got involved with the search for a couple who had eaten a live Norway lobster and then wrote about the experience. The sticking point was whether or not fish, shellfish, and other types of seafood can feel pain and suffering. For now, there are still petitions that circulate in hopes of getting signatures to outlaw the practice in more places.