White Fish are fish which are lean and light in colour, lacking fat or oil. They are also called Lean Fish. Their counterpart is Blue Fish. White fish tend to be lighter, milder, and more flaky than blue fish which are darker, stronger, and have a denser, meatier feel. This is why people who don’t like fish or fishy taste usually picture tuna or a salmon steak more than a flaky battered white fish like cod or haddock (i.e. fish and chips). This is also similar to how some people don’t like red meat (i.e. beef) and find gamey meats (darker, redder meat like bison or elk) off-putting. Poultry, with dark and white meat, is similar, or duck versus chicken. White fish as a culinary or nutritional category are not to be confused with the specific Whitefish species. White fish tend to live in smaller environments or travel less than blue fish, as well as typically living relatively inactively near the ocean floor, meaning they burn much less calories than blue fish and don’t need to store fat for energy in large amounts.
White fish store most of their fat in or around their liver, compared to blue fish which stores it evenly. This is why cod livers and cod liver oil are a food and supplement, due to their concentrated oil and fat-soluble vitamin content.
Since white fish are lean and very low in fat, they can be nutritionally superior to blue fish for those avoiding PUFAs. White fish also tend to be lower in iron than blue fish, which can be preferred to those high in iron or reducing iron, although is likely negligent given typical fish consumption (e.g. 0.5mg versus 1.5mg per 100g).
White fish tend to be less predatory than many blue fish, and often act as prey for blue fish as well. This makes them contain much less heavy metals like mercury, which blue fish like certain species of Tuna are notorious for. It could be said that white fish are cleaner and safer than blue fish for health, guidelines, and diets or practices.
Types of White Fish:
- Cod
- Haddock
- Plaice
- Halibut
- Flounder
- Sole
- Hake
- Mahi Mahi
- Pollock
- Sea Bass
- Sea Bream
- Turbot
- Catfish
- Monkfish
