Panga or panga seabream is the common
South African name for ''Pterogymnus laniarius'', a small,
ocean-dwelling fish, native to the southeast
Atlantic Ocean and southwest
Indian Ocean. Alternatively called "torpedo
scads", they are
cold-blooded with white flesh. Their scales are generally pink in color with whitish underbelly and blue-green stripes running laterally along their sides.
Over the course of its life, a panga will undergo periodic sex-changes with as much as 30% of the population being
hermaphroditic at a time. Despite the presence of both sex organs, it is thought unlikely that both are simultaneously active. Panga are slow to reach sexual maturity, with a minimum population doubling time of 4.5–14 years.
In other countries, the name ''panga'' may refer to a different species. In
Indonesia, it refers to ''
Megalaspis cordyla
The torpedo scad (''Megalaspis cordyla''), also known as the hardtail scad, finny scad, finletted mackerel scad or cordyla scad, is a species of moderately large marine fish classified in the jack and horse mackerel family, Carangidae. The torpe ...
'', in
Spain,
France, the
Netherlands and
Poland it refers to ''
Pangasius hypophthalmus'', and in
Kenya it refers to ''
Trichiurus lepturus''.
References
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External links
FAO's Species Fact Sheet about ''Megalaspis cordyla''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q784460
Sparidae
Fish of the Atlantic Ocean
Fish of the Indian Ocean
Taxa named by Achille Valenciennes
Fish described in 1830