Panga
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.