ANNOTATED LIST OF THE SPECIES 343 
larger Pimelodinae which are also leapers. This species launches itself straight 
upward clear of the water, then drops tail-foremost where it arose; and as it leaves 
the water, a spiral spray is thrown aloft by the tail in characteristic pattern. 
Near the home of many of the settlers, and near the fishing camps, drying plat- 
forms with poles for support, and with palm thatch, are erected. Here the paiche 
is prepared and spread out on sunny days to dry. In the preparation for drying, 
a rigid, standardized procedure is followed. First the fish is laid on the ground 
belly-downward. The operator then starts skinning on each side of the backbone, 
Fig. 40. Drying paiche. Veneer-like slabs of paiche-meat spread out on palm-branches for 
drying in the sun; two strips suspended from the clothes-line for photographing. The banks of the 
Ucayali river at the right. 
laying the skin back on each side, and performing the remaining steps on the skin. 
The backbone is next removed, then the viscera, and the head. The meat is then 
divided into strips, not transversely as you would expect, but lengthwise of the 
entire fish. The epaxial and hypaxial muscle bundles are then split lengthwise 
into as many strips as the size warrants, six, eight, ten, or rarely twelve. 
The muscle bundles five to eight or nine feet long, several inches in diameter, 
are then laid lengthwise on a pole, shoulder high. Starting at one end, the operator 
with a sharp knife begins cutting the strip into a thin veneer, rotating it on the pole, 
and skilfully holding his blade so as to maintain a uniform thickness of a quarter- 
