Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

Panga

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Kingdom
  
Animalia

Class
  
Actinopterygii

Family
  
Sparidae

Phylum
  
Chordata

Order
  
Perciformes

Panga

Genus
  
Pterogymnus Smith, 1938

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.

References

Panga Wikipedia