African Pompano - Taxonomy and Naming

Taxonomy and Naming

The African pompano is one of three members of the diamond trevally genus Alectis, which itself is one of 33 genera in the jack and horse mackerel family Carangidae. The Carangidae are perciform fishes in the suborder Percoidei.

The species was first scientifically described by the German naturalist Marcus Elieser Bloch in 1787 under the name of Zeus ciliaris, described from the type specimen collected from Surat, India. Following this description, a number of naturalists reclassified the species as the taxonomic literature of fishes grew in volume. Lacepède was the first to do so, giving it the name Gallus virescens, which although he intended to be a new genus, had been assigned to a group of birds previously. Rafinesque examined Gallus virescens in 1815, subsequently creating a new genus for the species; Alectis, and thus making Gallus virescens the type species, despite it being a junior synonym. A number of biologists also renamed the species completely, with Alectis crinitus and Carangoides ajax applied to the species. All names except Alectis ciliaris are now considered defunct under the ICZN nomenclature rules. Interestingly enough, the original genus name of Zeus has now also been applied to an ascomycete fungi.

The African pompano is not a true pompano of the genus Trachinotus, but is more closely allied with the fish commonly called jacks and trevallies. The various common names used for the species generally reflect the juvenile filamentous fins, with a number of variations on 'threadfin trevally' often used.