Shrimp – America’s Most Popular Shellfish

Shrimp holds the crown as America’s most consumed seafood, accounting for 38% of all annual seafood consumption in the United States. The market reached nearly 983,000 tons in 2024, with experts predicting continued growth at roughly three percent annually through 2033. These small crustaceans have completely transformed from their humble beginnings – who would have thought these tiny pink creatures would dominate American dinner plates?
With Americans consuming an average of nearly six pounds of shrimp per person in 2021, it’s clear this shellfish has captured hearts and taste buds nationwide. Over the last twenty years, whiteleg shrimp has become the dominant farmed shrimp species globally and the dominant shrimp on American restaurant menus and supermarket freezers thanks to its farming efficiency. From backyard barbecues to upscale restaurants, shrimp’s versatility makes it perfect for everything from simple boiling to elaborate scampi preparations. Their mild sweetness and tender texture create endless possibilities in the kitchen.
Lobster – The Luxurious Crustacean

Nothing says fine dining quite like a perfectly cooked lobster tail dripping with butter. Lobster is the crustacean that’s most synonymous with Maine and New England, with the hard-shell lobster we know best being Homarus americanus, the American lobster. Despite its current status as a luxury food, lobster has quite the surprising history that would shock most modern diners.
Back in the day, lobster was considered so unappetizing that the shellfish was fed to prisoners, with some prisoners considering it cruel and unusual punishment to be required to eat so much of it – though times have changed, and lobster is now considered a delicacy. Although lobsters are harvested from their rocky bottom-dwelling habitats all year, the latter half of the year is considered to be lobster season when the lobsters will be at their largest with the most meat for picking. The sweet, tender meat hidden within those intimidating claws and tails makes every crack of the shell worthwhile.
Blue Crabs – Coastal Treasures

Blue crabs represent the essence of coastal dining, particularly along America’s Eastern seaboard where crab houses have become cultural institutions. Major varieties include King Crab, Dungeness Crab, and Blue Crab, all rich in omega-3 fatty acids, zinc, and vitamin B12. These sideways-walking crustaceans provide some of the sweetest, most delicate meat in the shellfish world.
What makes blue crabs particularly special is their seasonal availability and the ritualistic nature of eating them. Summer crab boils bring families together around newspaper-covered tables, armed with mallets and picks to extract every precious morsel of meat. The meat varies in texture and flavor depending on which part of the crab it comes from – the body meat offers rich, concentrated flavor while the claw meat tends to be sweeter and more delicate. Maryland and Louisiana have built entire culinary traditions around these remarkable creatures.
Oysters – Ocean’s Filter Feeders

Of all the popular bivalves, oysters are arguably the most divisive, with their sticky, almost gooey texture and brinier, saltier flavor than clams and mussels. These remarkable mollusks have been shaping coastlines and dinner tables for centuries. Sweet in taste and versatile, oysters vary in flavor by region with each part of the country having a unique oyster flavor profile or brininess based on the region’s waterways and climate – and you can forget that old wives’ tale about only eating oysters in months with an R.
Oysters pack a nutritional punch, especially when it comes to zinc—a mineral essential for immune function, while like mussels, they’re rich in omega-3s and vitamin B12, making them a heart-healthy choice despite their somewhat indulgent reputation, as oysters are low in calories. Whether slurped raw from the half shell or grilled with garlic butter, oysters offer a pure taste of the ocean. Their ability to filter water makes them environmental heroes too, with single oysters capable of filtering up to fifty gallons of water daily.
Clams – Versatile Bivalves

Don’t like mussels but still want to get in on the shellfish game? If so, clams are probably what you’re looking for, as clams have a cleaner, purer flavor that makes them even more appealing than some of their other bivalve counterparts, with smaller varieties like littlenecks being preferred. These unassuming mollusks hide beneath sandy shores, waiting to become the star of your next seafood feast.
Clams are popular for their flavor, versatility and high nutrient value, with just one 3-ounce serving providing about two-thirds of the daily value of iron, while being an excellent source of complete proteins for muscle building and repair, plus providing vitamin B-12 necessary for nerve function, as well as selenium, magnesium, vitamin C, copper, phosphorus, and riboflavin. From New England clam chowder to Italian linguine alle vongole, these shellfish adapt beautifully to countless cooking methods. Even cooked clams can be delicious, and if you’ve never made them yourself, you should give them a try as they’re surprisingly easy to steam and take on the flavor of the broth, garlic, and wine you add to your cooking vessel – it’s hard to mess them up.
Mussels – The Sustainable Choice

Don’t let their shells intimidate you: Mussels are famously easy to prepare, since their shells open when they’re fully cooked, and they’re usually steamed in a flavorful broth or sauce, typically red sauce or garlicky white wine sauce. Mussels are a nutritional powerhouse, offering a rich source of lean protein, omega-3 fatty acids, and essential minerals like iron, zinc, and selenium, while being lower in calories compared to other shellfish and containing an impressive amount of vitamin B12, crucial for brain and nerve health.
Mussels are another variety of bivalve mollusk, with marine blue mussels attaching to rocks and other surfaces in intertidal shallow areas along saltwater coastlines, having shiny black oval shells and very soft and sweet inner edible muscle, found around the world with popular growing regions being Prince Edward Island in the North Atlantic and the Pacific Northwest waters around Washington and British Columbia. What’s truly remarkable about mussels is their environmental impact – they actually improve water quality while growing. Farm-raised mussels are sustainable and plentiful in the U.S., and mussels are so easy and impressive to prepare at home.
Scallops – The Sweet Swimmers

Odds are you might not know scallops are bivalves since they’re usually sold without their shells, but scallops are arguably the most tender and succulent of all the bivalves, making them a go-to protein for fancy dinners and intimate date nights with their delicate, buttery flavor allowing them to pair with everything from lemony pasta to charred bacon, available as small sweet bay scallops best for seafood stews, and sea scallops which are about triple the size and most delicious when seared in butter.
Unlike other bivalves that remain stationary, scallops are the athletes of the mollusk world, propelling themselves through water by rapidly opening and closing their shells. Scallops are not only delicious, they’re also a solid source of a variety of micronutrients—particularly vitamin B12, selenium, zinc, and phosphorus, making them a great addition to our menus for helping synthesize DNA, enhancing nerve and blood cell health, protecting cells from free radical damage, boosting immune health, and building healthy skeletal tissue. This unique movement develops their adductor muscle – the part we eat – making it incredibly tender and sweet. Professional chefs often consider perfectly seared scallops the ultimate test of culinary skill.
Crawfish – Freshwater Gems

Also known as crayfish or mudbugs, these freshwater crustaceans bring Louisiana’s bayou culture straight to your dinner table. Lobster, Crab, and Shrimp are all Crustaceans, as are Crawfish for you freshwater types. These miniature lobster look-alikes might be small, but they pack tremendous flavor and cultural significance, especially in Cajun and Creole cuisine.
Crawfish season typically runs from late winter through early summer, with peak harvest occurring in spring. The traditional crawfish boil is more than just a meal – it’s a social event that brings communities together. Seasoned with cayenne, garlic, and aromatic vegetables, these spicy crustaceans require a hands-on eating approach that naturally slows down the dining experience. The sweet, tender tail meat rewards patient diners who master the twist-and-suck technique that extracts both meat and flavorful juices. Their relatively low cost compared to their saltwater cousins makes them accessible for large gatherings.
Conch – Caribbean Delicacy

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of traveling to the Bahamas and perhaps other parts of the Caribbean, you may have gotten the chance to try conch, a shellfish compared to other types of seafood like scallops and squid, but with its own unique, salty flavor with just a touch of sweetness that makes it a real treat, with texture that’s firm and meaty, with a chewiness you’re sure to enjoy if you like well-cooked octopus, often found finely chopped and mixed with fresh vegetables in a limey, briny sort of liquid that yields one of the most delicious seafood salads.
Sea conch is a variety of sea snails found in the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, and Jamaica, available in the U.S. usually as canned or frozen sea conch for various recipes, most commonly found in shallow waters but can also live in deeper waters, with snails around three inches long and shells usually cream or light brown. Conch, popular in the Caribbean, has a firm texture with a sweet, slightly nutty flavor, and conch shells can produce pearls but they’re incredibly rare. The preparation of conch requires some skill – it needs proper tenderizing to achieve the perfect texture that Caribbean cooks have mastered over generations.
Abalone – The Prized Gastropod

If you’ve had abalone before, then you probably understand why it’s a hate-it-or-love-it kind of seafood, with texture that isn’t bad – not dissimilar to calamari, although a bit denser – but the flavor isn’t super enjoyable when cooked in the shell with a distinct fishiness, though outside of its shell it’s not especially fishy but doesn’t pack a ton of flavor, being slightly buttery and salty, depending on other ingredients to lend enough flavor.
These large sea snails command premium prices due to their rarity and the difficulty involved in harvesting them. Wild abalone populations have declined dramatically, making farmed varieties more common in today’s markets. Sea Snails, Whelks, Conches, and Limpets are all Gastropods, and they’re less common in restaurants than their two-halved cousins, but some, like Abalone, are delicacies. The meat requires careful preparation to avoid toughness, often involving pounding or scoring techniques. In Asian cuisines, particularly Chinese and Japanese cooking, abalone represents luxury and is often served during special celebrations.
Geoduck – The Giant Clam

Geoduck is a unique shellfish popular in many parts of the world, particularly in Asia, found in the Northwestern parts of the U.S. and Canada, but not extremely popular, with an unusual look that makes it stand out from other seafood, and its taste and texture make it a favorite among seafood lovers. Geoducks, the largest burrowing clams, have a mild, sweet flavor and a slightly crunchy texture, and can live for more than 100 years.
These massive clams can weigh several pounds and live for over a century, making them one of the longest-living animals on Earth. Their somewhat unconventional appearance often startles first-time diners, but those who appreciate unique textures find geoducks fascinating. The Pacific Northwest, particularly Washington State, harvests most of the geoducks consumed in North America. Asian markets, especially in China and Japan, prize these giants for their supposed health benefits and unique culinary properties. The meat offers two distinct textures – the siphon provides a crunchy, slightly chewy experience while the body meat is more tender.
Whelk – Spiraled Sea Snails

Whelks are large sea snails with a chewy texture and a slightly sweet, briny flavor, and whelks use their long, spiral-shaped shells to bore holes into other mollusks to feed. These predatory gastropods bring an element of adventure to the dinner table, challenging diners with their unique texture and bold oceanic flavor. European cuisines, particularly in coastal regions of England and France, have long appreciated whelks as tavern food and seaside snacks.
Extracting the meat from whelks requires patience and the right technique – a small fork or pick helps remove the spiral-shaped meat from its shell. The texture is notably chewier than most shellfish, making it an acquired taste that rewards persistent diners. Many coastal communities serve whelks simply boiled with vinegar, allowing their natural brininess to shine through. Their robust flavor makes them excellent candidates for hearty stews and robust sauces that complement rather than mask their distinctive taste.
Cockles – Heart-Shaped Treasures

Cockles are small, heart-shaped shellfish with tender meat and a mild, sweet flavor, and cockles have been enjoyed by humans for over 6,000 years, making them one of the oldest seafood staples. Mussels, Oysters, Scallops, Clams, Cockles are bivalves with shells that have two halves, and they all taste great. These charming little bivalves pack surprising flavor into their compact shells.
European beaches often reveal cockles at low tide, and beachcombing for these treasures has been a tradition for countless generations. Their heart-shaped shells make them instantly recognizable, and their sweet, delicate meat requires minimal cooking – often just a quick steam until the shells pop open. Welsh cockles, particularly those from the Gower Peninsula, are considered among the world’s finest. They work beautifully in pasta dishes, seafood risottos, or simply served with lemon and butter. Their small size means they cook quickly, making them perfect for weeknight dinners when you want something special without extensive preparation time.
The world of shellfish extends far beyond the familiar shrimp and lobster found on most American tables. Each variety brings its own personality to the plate – from the briny pop of fresh oysters to the sweet tenderness of perfectly seared scallops. These ocean treasures connect us to coastal traditions while providing exceptional nutrition and sustainability benefits. Whether you’re slurping your first raw oyster or cracking into a pile of spicy crawfish, shellfish offer experiences that engage all your senses. Which of these thirteen varieties will make it onto your next dinner table?