How long does seafood last?

Reviewed by the MyListResort team · Data from the USDA FoodKeeper · Updated July 30, 2026

Seafood is among the most perishable proteins in the kitchen. Follow package and official storage guidance closely. A strong fishy or ammonia smell is a common spoilage sign, but smell and appearance cannot establish safety.

What are common spoilage signs for seafood?

• A strong fishy, sour or ammonia smell.
• A slimy coating, or flesh that has turned dull, gray or mushy.
• Eyes that have gone cloudy and sunken, on a whole fish.
• In live shellfish: a shell that stays open when tapped, or one that is cracked or broken. A live clam, mussel or oyster should close up when handled.

Storing seafood

• Keep seafood on the coldest part of the fridge, ideally over ice, and use it within a day or two.
• Seal it well so its odor does not spread to other food.
• Freeze anything you will not cook quickly, and thaw it in the fridge.
• Smoked, pasteurized and jarred seafood keeps for the long window above only while the pack is sealed and cold. Once opened it becomes ordinary ready-to-eat seafood: a few days, refrigerated.
• Live shellfish are the exception to sealing: they are still alive and need air. Keep them cold in an open container or under a damp cloth, never in a sealed bag and never submerged in water.

Seafood shelf life, food by food

Tap a food for its once-opened window, full shelf-life table and storage tips.

• Caviar, fresh, in jar
• Cooked fish, all
• Cooked shellfish, all
• Crab legs, king, dungeness, snow
• Crab meat, fresh
• Crab meat, pasteurized
• Fatty fish, bluefish, catfish, mackerel, mullet, salmon, tuna, etc.
• Fish
• Fish, cold smoked, air pack
• Fish, cold smoked, vacuum pack
• Fish, hot smoked, air pack
• Fish, hot smoked, vacuum pack
• Fresh clams, mussels, oysters
• Fresh lobster tails, cooked
• Fresh whole lobster, frozen
• Fresh whole lobster, live
• Herring, glass packed, in wine sauce
• Lean fish, cod, flounder, haddock, halibut, sole, etc.
• Lean fish, pollock, ocean perch, rockfish, sea trout.
• Live clams, mussels, crab, and oysters
• Scallops
• Shrimp, crayfish
• Shucked clams, mussels, and oysters
• Squid
• Surimi seafood

Shelf-life windows come from the USDA FoodKeeper, published by the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (public domain); we vendor the FSIS FoodKeeper dataset and refresh it in place. These are quality estimates, not food-safety determinations or guarantees: actual condition depends on storage and handling, and harmful bacteria may not have obvious signs. Follow package and official guidance; when in doubt, throw it out. See our food safety notice and terms.