Welcome to another “Savanah Summer”! Being a large continent, there are many places where Africa connects to oceans, in fact both the Pacific and Indian oceans are there. Thus, there is a huge amount of aquatic life, be it mammals, birds and, naturally, fish. Fish never tend to be as popular on toy shelves (unless it’s part of the shark family), so it’s always nice when a company makes more common fish. Here, we see how Kaiyodo did so with the African Pompano (Alectis ciliaris).
The pompano is a laterally compressed species living at depths of less than 100m, and are considered game fish, often caught on line, though juveniles are found in the shallows. The juveniles are noteworthy for their threadfins, which reduce with age, suggesting the model here is a youngster, with the fins and tail done in translucent plastic, differing from the rest of the silvery body. This does present an issue: breakage. The fins are detachable, but, as you may be able to tell, the fin is broken, as the translucent fins are more fragile. If you get it, best to be careful and store it where it won’t fall or break.
This is a bottlecap figure, so it is attached to the base by a clear plastic rod to give the illusion of it swimming about. Does work really well, I feel. It measures 2.5″ high (without the base and 2.6″ wide (from face to fin), making it an accurately flat fish.
As with anything Kaiyodo makes, this model is stunning. The only real issue is the fear of breaking the fins, but any careful collector will have no issue. This is the only example of an African Pompano that exists in toy form, and you couldn’t do much better. It is discontinued, so places like eBay is the best shot of finding it, and I say it is well worth it. Well, this was a refreshing dip, back to the mainland for the next “Savanah Summer”!!
