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Fish

Southern Pompano

Trachinotus africanus

A big, powerful pompano of shallow reef and rocky ground, silvery with bright yellow fins - a spearfishing prize that can top 25 kg.

Also known as pompano, suidelike pompano

Southern Pompano
Photo: Garrett · CC BY-NC 4.0
Typical size
About 9 kg at 90 cm; reported to exceed 25 kg
Habitat
Shallow coastal reefs and rocky outcrops

The southern pompano is bluish above and silvery below, with a bright yellow anal fin tipped orange and yellowish tail, pectoral and pelvic fins. It is a heavy fish - around 9 kg at 90 cm, with a Durban Aquarium specimen reported to exceed 25 kg and a South African spearfishing record of 14 kg.

It lives in shallow coastal areas, usually around reefs and rocky outcrops, with the young in sheltered bays. Its range is oddly broken: from Knysna north to Delagoa Bay, then again in the Gulfs of Aden and Oman and the eastern Indian Ocean.