Pregnant women can eat shellfish as long as it is cooked.
They should not eat the organs or guts of fish or shellfish. Pregnant women may eat up to 12
ounces a week of crawfish, squid , oysters, clams , shrimp, or scallops. Because
some samples of lobster and crab may have much higher levels of mercury than
average, pregnant should limit crab and lobster to about 6 ounces per week.
The amount of mercury found in shellfish is generally much
lower than is found in other seafood. The table below shows the average
amount of mercury found in samples of shellfish along with the lowest and
highest amounts found in samples of each shellfish.
SPECIES
MEAN (PPM)
RANGE (PPM)
Lobster Northern (Species unknown)
0.166
ND - 0.451
Lobster (Northern/American)
0.107
ND-0.230
Crab
(Blue, King, and Snow)
0.065
ND - 0.610
Crawfish
0.033
ND - 0.051
Squid
0.023
ND - 0.070
Oysters
0.012
ND - 0.250
Clams
0.009
ND - 0.028
Shrimp
0.009
ND - 0.050
Scallop
0.003
ND - 0.033
PPM=parts per million
ND=Not detectable - mercury concentration below detection level
(Level of Detection (LOD)=0.01ppm)