Because I have sushi on the brain,
Why are some fish never eaten raw? Why can I eat tuna raw but not haddock? Is it the taste, the texture, the mercury level, or what? Supply and demand?
I love sushi, and I’ve always wondered about this.
Your pal,
John
You generally don’t want to eat freshwater fish because they can have
more parasites. Haddock is not very oily, and has a pretty coarse texture, so it would probably not make good sushi/sashimi. There is a much wider variety of fish used in Japan than there is in the US. A good chef will know how to slice and serve fish to the best effect.
You can actually eat whatever fish you like raw without health-fears (freshwater included if they are not farmed), but it depends upon your personal taste. Some fish have a firmer texture (like tuna) but some are ‘mushier’ when filleted and don’t fare well in a sushi menu.
They’re grouse in Thai fish cakes though!! 
Love thai fish cakes… drool
I’ve eaten tuna seconds after it’s been caught. It’s divine.
It’s often neater to dispense with chopsticks and simply use your fingers.
At the risk of squirting dry fact into your witty joke, sushi is properly eaten with the fingers anyway.
That may be the traditional way, but it’s highly debatable whether that’s still the “proper” way. The reality is, most people today use chopsticks.
The sushi chef in a restaurant I frequent once told me that freshwater fish usually doesn’t make good sushi - in general, it is too watery. You need a firm, dry consistency for good sushi. Haddock is an ocean fish, but it might not have the type of flesh that would work well in sushi. Some fish are simply disgusting and slimy raw.
Also, it depends on what kind of fish you can get easily and reliably and at very high quality. Red Snapper, Salmon, and Tuna seem to be the most common saltwater fishes used in sushi. I’ve seen other fish at restaurants though.
Perhaps, but I’ve seen people eating with their finders in the best of places.
It would probably have to be a pretty good place, if these people hired others to find things for them.
When I lived in Japan, I saw many Japanese eating the stuff with their fingers and many Japanese eating the stuff with chopsticks. Apparently the proper way is whatever your preference is.
This link has a list of sushi fish varieties that runs well into the hundreds.
Keep something in mind discussing sushi: it is not necessarily made with raw fish. Eel, for example, which is usually smoked or cooked.
Presumably haddock isn’t used because it doesn’t taste good as sushi.
Absolutely false.
The organs through which one can perceive potentially harmful parasites (for example, the system of sight), for example, are some of the best ways of discovering which fish are more or less appealing when served raw. Most of the objections to eating softer-fleshed fish have been covered already (though they can be delicious given skillful preparation), but it’s remarkably quixotic to claim eating raw fish can do no harm. People who enjoy these foods typically value the great rewards much higher than the very real risks present in most fish which have not been flash-frozen.
Unless kambuckta is alluding to the almost complete adoption, worldwide, of boat-side deep freezing of most important species of sea-going fish, in which case I agree. Anything legally prepared within any American restaurant, for example, with the exception of tuna, has been frozen on-ship, well prior to delivery. This is the rule with mainstream Japanese sashimi practices, as well. So, by extension, most deep-sea firm-fleshed fish are already “cured” by the near-complete adoption of fishermen by this preventative practice. In this sense, kambuckta is absolutely correct.