Volume 32, Plate IX / Ichthyology (Fish)

Sawalla of the Arawaaks

Hypothalus dawalla

Taken where the Rupununi joins the Essequibo, this male is marked by brilliant colours and short cirrhi hidden in a groove near the eye, with a compressed head, body triangular at the dorsal and oval toward the tail. Head and back are green varying to blue and carmine, the lower part carmine, with brown and carmine fins variously tipped; esteemed for delicate flesh, it lives an hour out of water and reaches two and a half feet.