Panga

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This article is about the panga fish. See machete for information about the African cutting tool. See panga (boat) for information about the small watercraft used by commercial fishermen in Central America

Panga

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Perciformes
Family:	Sparidae
Genus:	Pterogymnus Smith, 1938
Species:	P. laniarius

Binomial name

Pterogymnus laniarius
(Valenciennes, 1830)

Panga is the common South African name for Pterogymnus laniarius, a small ocean-dwelling fish, native to the south-east Atlantic Ocean and south-west 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 its 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 and Spain, panga refers to Megalaspis cordyla, in Poland it refers to Pangasius hypophthalmus, and in Kenya it refers to Trichiurus lepturus.