Thank you for visiting the Seafood Selector. EDF is planning a new approach to providing information to consumers about good seafood choices. Please come back soon for updates.

Orange roughy

At a glance

	Eco-rating	Mercury	Omega-3s
+-Orange roughy	Worst	Elevated
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.

Eco-rating

Mercury

Omega-3s

+-Orange roughy

Worst

Elevated

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.

Recommended servings per month

	Contaminant	Men	Women	Kids 6-12	Kids 0-5
Orange roughy	Mercury	2	2	1	1

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.