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.ver 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.