In general, you want to avoid "oily" fish, because it will tend to go rancid rather than curing properly. By oily fish I'm referring to sardines, mackerel, bluefish, and similar "fishy" fish. Farmed salmon is also generally a bad idea because it's so fatty; in general, you would only make salmon ceviche if you had a specific recipe for it. Farmed trout and true sole also don't work very well, as they're too delicate and tend to fall apart into a fish mush while marinating. Finally, cartiligenous fish, such as shark, skates, and chilean sea bass will be horribly gristly and difficult to chew as ceviche -- and you shouldn't be eating them anyway, they're endangered!
Pretty much, you're looking for a lean mild-flavored white-fleshed fish: tilapia, flounder, rockfish, cod, John Dory, mahi-mahi, and similar fish will work in any "generic" ceviche recipe. There are specific recipes for tuna, swordfish, shrimp, squid and octopus which are also excellent, but only if your recipe calls for it.
I think the Albacore and Sea Bass are both great ideas. I'm not sure about the Swordfish. It would be fine in the Crudo or Ceviche, but I don't know how it would be as Sashimi.
Fish that I'd look at for this are:
- Yellowtail
- Halibut
- Tuna
- Sea Bass
- Scallops (to think outside the "fish" box a little)
- Salmon
I'm not sure if those are "in season" for you, and I can't find a good resource to determine that. I'd suggest getting a list of 5-6 fish and heading to your local fishmonger / farmers market / or Whole Foods and ask what's in season. Personally, I'd do Tuna, Yellowtail, and Scallops if you wanted to do 3x3.
Best Answer
This is an opinion answer, but and noted in the US "sushi grade" is a marketing label only, not a legal, inspected standard so unless you trust the vendor means very little. Other places it has actual meaning. In all cases you should likely go by what your local standards are, the reputation of the source and your own feeling. Something may be safe, but if it does not feel safe to you, then don't trust it.
In general, my opinion on Ceviche but not backed by research is that it is an "acid cooked" item so is not raw but also has not had heat applied as we know. This says to me that some potential pathogens have been eliminated, but not necessarily all. As long as fresh, quality product is used, the main concern in sushi and ceviche of common proteins is usually parasites. The curing with kill some, but quite possibly not all, so ceviche has less of a worry than sushi, but is not free from fear.
So, my opinion would be to avoid any fish even of high quality which might be prone to parasites, so I would use no fresh water fish. Fish like salmon spend part of their life in fresh, part in salt which makes them more susceptible, so I would tend to use them only if they meet sushi standards. In the US that means hard frozen to kill parasites while in some other places that means well inspected. I would always avoid any farm raised item myself as the crowding and often poor water exchange in the rearing increases risk. Of salt water creatures, I would tend to go for ones which are deeper water, not ones which habit shallow or possible brackish waters which would in my mind increase exposure. If it was an item that seemed more at risk, salmon as an example, then I would want sushi quality only. Mahi Mahi though, a fast growing salt water fish I would just look for good quality from a reputable source. My choices would vary by variety.