---
title: African Pompano (Alectis ciliaris)
scientific_name: Alectis ciliaris
common_name: African Pompano
taxon: Jacks, Amberjacks, Pompanos
conservation_status: LC - Least Concern
published: 2024-11-08T23:01:46.950Z
updated: 2026-08-13T07:10:49.617Z
tags: African Pompano, Alectis ciliaris, Jacks, Amberjacks, Pompanos, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/jacks-amberjacks-pompanos/african-pompano
---

# African Pompano (*Alectis ciliaris*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Jacks, Amberjacks, Pompanos (*Carangidae*)
- **Size:** up to 1.3 m
- **Weight:** 22.9 Kg
- **Depth:** 1-100 m
- **Diet:** Carnivore
- **Activity:** Diurnal
- **Rarity:** Rare
- **Habitat:** Open water over sand and reef, juveniles drifting near the surface
- **Reproduction:** Broadcast spawner, Gonochoric
- **Hazard:** Poisonous
- **Conservation status:** LC - Least Concern

## How to recognise it

- deep, extremely compressed silver body with a steep blunt forehead
- juveniles trail long thread-like filaments from the dorsal and pelvic fins
- adults lose the threads and look like a plain silver plate on edge
- length up to 1.3 m

An adult is a silver plate on edge: deep, flattened almost to a blade, with a steep forehead and a body so compressed it disappears when it turns toward you. Up to 1.3 m (4.3 ft) in open water over sand.

The young are a different animal. Juveniles trail filaments from the dorsal and pelvic fins several times the length of the body, drifting near the surface, and the resemblance to a small jellyfish trailing tentacles is close enough that predators leave them alone. They lose the threads as they grow and settle to the bottom, and anyone who finds one assumes it is a rare species rather than a young common one.

Adults hunt over sand, taking crabs and small fish, often by nosing the bottom rather than chasing in open water - the body is built to turn rather than to sprint.

The name is misleading twice: it is neither African nor a pompano, but a jack found in warm water worldwide. Large individuals carry ciguatera in some regions, which is the usual tax on long-lived reef-associated predators.

## Also known as

- **English:** African pompano, Indian Threadfin Trevally, Ciliated Thread-fish
- **Arabic:** Khait
- **French:** Aile ronde, Carangue échevelée, Cordonnier fil
- **Spanish:** pámpano de hebra, Corcoba de Plana, Corcobado de Pluma
- **Japanese:** イトヒキアジ, Itohikiaji

## Scientific synonyms

- *Alectes ciliaris* (Bloch, 1787)
- *Alectis breviventralis* Wakiya, 1924
- *Alectis cilaris* (Bloch, 1787)
- *Alectis cilliaris* Bloch, 1787
- *Alectis crinitus* (Mitchill, 1826)
- *Alectis indica* (Cuvier, 1833)
- *Alectis temmincki* Wakiya, 1924
- *Blepharichthys crinitus* (Mitchill, 1826)
- *Blepharis ciliaris* (Bloch, 1787)
- *Blepharis crinitus* (Mitchill, 1826)
- *Blepharis fasciatus* Rüppell, 1830
- *Blepharis indicus* Cuvier, 1833
- *Blepharis major* Cuvier, 1833
- *Blepharis sutor* Cuvier, 1833
- *Carangoides ajax* Snyder, 1904
- *Caranx ajax* (Snyder, 1904)
- *Gallus virescens* Lacepède, 1802
- *Hynnis cubensis* Poey, 1860
- *Hynnis hopkinsi* Jordan & Starks, 1895
- *Scyris analis* Poey, 1868
- *Zeus ciliaris* Bloch, 1787
- *Zeus crinitus* Mitchill, 1826
- *Zeus gallus* Linnaeus, 1758

## Range

Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Federal Republic of Somalia, Gulf of Mexico, Indian Ocean, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, North Atlantic Ocean, Red Sea, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania

---

*Source: [Red Sea Creatures](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/jacks-amberjacks-pompanos/african-pompano)*
*Updated: August 13, 2026*