African pompano
Amazing fact
African pompano have smooth body surfaces because their tiny scales are embedded in the skin.
沖縄美ら海水族館
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
African pompano have smooth body surfaces because their tiny scales are embedded in the skin.
THE REAL WORLD
The real African pompano
- Scientific name
- Alectis ciliaris
- Japanese name
- イトヒキアジ
- Group
- Ocean animals
- Order
- Carangiformes
- Family
- Carangidae
- Genus
- Alectis
Where the name “African pompano” comes from
Its Japanese name refers to young fish having fins that look like trailing threads.
沖縄美ら海水族館A member of the jack family that lives in the seas of Japan from Hokkaido to the Ryukyu Islands, and in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Young fish have diamond-shaped bodies, with dorsal and anal fins that stretch out long like threads.
How the African pompano lives
Young fish can be seen near the water’s surface. They often enter fishing harbors. Adults live in deeper water.
八丈植物公園・八丈ビジターセンターBasic data
- Size
- Body length: up to about 1 m
- Range
- From south of Hokkaido to the Ryukyu Islands and the Indo-Pacific
Where the African pompano has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- イトヒキアジ
- 简体中文
- 丝鲹
- 繁體中文
- 絲鰺
- 한국어
- 실전갱이
- Español
- Pámpano de Hebra
- Français
- Carangue
- Português (Brasil)
- Xaréu-branco
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Kuwe rambut
- Русский
- Длиннопёрый алектис
- ไทย
- ปลาโฉมงาม
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 鳥羽水族館 — イトヒキアジChecked: 2026-11-04
- 沖縄美ら海水族館 — イトヒキアジChecked: 2026-11-07
- 八丈植物公園・八丈ビジターセンター — イトヒキアジChecked: 2026-11-07
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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