why doesn’t the ocean contain the allergens of the seafood living inside it?

Question

I am severely allergic to shellfish, yet when I accidentally drink some seawater I don’t get an allergic reaction. How come the millions of fish don’t just contaminate the water with their allergens?

In: Biology

Answer 1

Millions of fish is an understatement. Estimates put it at 3,500,000,000,000 fish.

There’s a lot of water in the ocean as well. Estimates put it at 1,260,000,000,000,000,000,000 litres.

That comes out to about 1 fish per 360,000,000 litres of water, quite diluted down.