Highest Protein Fish and Seafood
The sea's own protein chart: cuttlefish opens at 32.5g per 100g, smoked sturgeon and cooked octopus hold the podium at 31.2g and 29.8g, and the tuna family — oil-packed, water-packed, fresh yellowfin — fills the middle with 29.1–24.4g. Canned sardines and anchovies prove the cheap shelf competes: 24.6g and 28.9g respectively.
How this ranking works
Every fish, crustacean and mollusc row in the database with a real Arabic name enters, ranked by protein per 100g, descending — with the family scope rules (no spice rows, no dried/powder forms, which is why salted-dried fish stay out). Raw and cooked rows are both present because both are eaten; each linked page states its own state.
The table: top 20
Source: the Alkemos food database — the same rows each food’s page shows (per-100g values; every name links to that food’s full page).
Reading the table
Why cephalopods rule
Cuttlefish and octopus are essentially muscular protein with almost no fat — 158 kcal per 100g carrying 32.5g of protein. In protein-per-calorie terms they rival the white-fish podium of the efficiency ranking, with a chewier bite and a very different price tag.
The economy podium
Sardines at 24.6g, anchovies at 28.9g and water-packed tuna at 25.5g are the pantry rows that make daily seafood protein affordable — and the small oily fish bring their own mineral story on their food pages, bones and all.
Fresh versus canned
The table shows both honestly: oil-packed tuna rows (29.1g) sit above fresh raw yellowfin (24.4g) because draining concentrates the solids. Neither is cheating — pick by shelf life and budget, and let the calorie column tag along.
Common questions
Is canned fish lower in protein?
The rows say the opposite: drained canned tuna measures 29.1g per 100g in this table, above many fresh fillets. Processing costs more in texture and sodium than in protein grams; the linked pages carry each row's full numbers.
Where is salmon?
Salmon rows sit in the 27.4–25g band — slightly below the podium — because the fish carries its celebrated oils alongside the protein. In the efficiency ranking (protein per calorie) the lean white fish pass it; in omega-3 terms it passes nearly everything. Different tables answer different questions.
Why is dried salted fish excluded?
It would top this chart at over 60g per 100g — and mislead everyone. Drying removes water and concentrates every gram; nobody eats 100g of it in a sitting. The exclusion is the family's standard concentrate rule, applied mechanically and disclosed on the page.
Turn these tables into a plan: the Macro Calculator splits your daily budget into grams — free, no account needed.
New to this topic? Start from the curated High Protein Foods collection — the hand-picked staples — then come back for the full ranking.