Panga

For other uses, see Panga (disambiguation).
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 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, in Spain, France, the Netherlands and Poland it refers to Pangasius hypophthalmus, and in Kenya it refers to Trichiurus lepturus.

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