The boe drum is found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean off western coast of Africa.

The boe drum was first formally described in 1863 as Larimus peli by the Dutch physician, herpetologist and ichthyologist Pieter Bleeker with its type locality give as Ebriakwa in Guinea.

[2] Ethelwynn Trewavas placed the eastern Atlantic Afrotropical sciaenids, Pseudotolithus and Pteroscion, in the tribe Pseudotolithini.

[5] However, the 5th edition of Fishes of the World does not recognise tribes or subfamilies within the Sciaenidae which it places in the order Acanthuriformes.

The specific name honours Hendrik Severinus Pel, who was governor of the Dutch Gold Coast who deposited many specimens in the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie in Leiden, including the type of the Boe drum.