March 11, 2026 — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed reclassifying squids and other cephalopods as shellfish, removing its responsibility for regulating those fishery products and ensuring they are regulated by NOAA Fisheries like other mollusks.
Current U.S. law describes shellfish narrowly as “an aquatic invertebrate having a shell.” Despite being mollusks and being considered shellfish by NOAA, squids and octopi do not have external shells, precluding them from falling into the shellfish category under U.S. law