ocean fish

What it is

"Ocean fish" is a label term that gestures at the sea and names no species. It usually means whatever mixed marine catch was economical — the phrase is more evocative than "fish", and exactly as informative.

Why it's in pet food

It appears mostly in wet cat foods, where "ocean" flavors are a shelf tradition. The ingredient can be perfectly nutritious; the label just declines to tell you what it is.

How Bowlmark scores it

Scores are deterministic math over the printed label — the rules below apply to every product identically, and nothing estimates or fills in a blank.

"Ocean fish" is one of the engine's flagged unnamed-fish terms: a 10-point deduction on the ingredient-quality pillar, applied once for the fish class no matter how many unnamed fish terms the label carries.

Read the full methodology

Foods that list ocean fish

Ranked by score where scores exist. Placement here is never sold.

• Diamond Naturals Whitefish Dinner for Adult Cats & Kittens85
• Taste of the Wild High Prairie Canine Recipe with Bison in Gravy84
• Purina ONE Indoor Advantage Senior 7+ Chicken & Ocean Fish Recipe Paté78
• Fancy Feast Wet Cat Food Flaked Fish and Shrimp Feast76
• Fancy Feast Classic Paté Seafood Feast69
• Fancy Feast Grilled Seafood Feast In Gravy69
• Purina Pro Plan Complete Essentials Seafood Entrée Classic Grain Free69
• Friskies Indoor Cat Food Meaty Bits Saucy Seafood Bake With Garden Greens in Sauce66

Sources

• WSAVA Global Nutrition Committee — Selecting a pet food

Related ingredients

• mackerel
• mackerel meal
• menhaden fish meal
• ocean fish meal
• pollock
• salmon

Further reading

• Protein quality vs quantity — why the % is only half the story
• Storing pet food so it stays the food you bought