Last checked: November 2026
Guyana’s seafood comes from a muddy Atlantic coast, big river mouths and inland swamps. That shapes what’s on the plate. Look for curried gilbaka and hassar, fried bangamary, curry crab and shrimp in almost everything. Most of it is cooked at home or in cook shops rather than in fancy seafood restaurants.
At a glance
- What to try: gilbaka curry, hassar curry, fried bangamary, curry crab, shrimp curry, butterfish
- Where: Stabroek and Bourda fish ponds, Georgetown cook shops and restaurants, coastal villages in Berbice and Essequibo
- How it’s cooked: mostly curried or fried, often marinated in green seasoning (a fresh herb paste) first
- Cost: varies; ask for a current quote
- Best for: adventurous eaters and diaspora visitors chasing a taste of home
What is gilbaka?
Gilbaka (also written gillbacker) is a large, scaleless sea catfish from the muddy coastal waters between Guyana and northern Brazil. Its flesh is firm and meaty, and its thick skin turns dark and gelatinous when cooked. It is usually made into a curry, often with green mango in the gravy, and is a Sunday family dish.
What is hassar?
Hassar is a small freshwater armoured catfish covered in two rows of hard, plate-like scales. It lives in swamps, canals and trenches, and is easier to catch when water levels drop. It is almost always curried. You eat it with your hands, sliding the shell off from tail to head.
Demand has long outstripped supply. Hassar is now farmed as well as wild-caught, and roadside sellers along the coast still offer it in season.
What is bangamary?
Bangamary is a white-fleshed sea fish that takes seasoning well and cooks fast. Guyanese usually season it and fry it whole or as fillets. It is one of the fish Guyana exports to Barbados and the wider Caribbean, where it has its own following.
Which other fish should you know?
- Butterfish: a mild fish often cooked in a butter, onion and thyme sauce, or fried.
- Snapper: grilled or fried, and on most restaurant menus.
- Trout: a local name for a coastal sea fish, not the cold-water trout of North America.
- Cuirass and kakabelly: cuirass is another catfish sold at Stabroek; kakabelly is a tiny fish fried crisp or cooked as a dry curry in Berbice.
How is crab eaten in Guyana?
Crab is curried in its shell and eaten slowly with your fingers, usually with rice or roti. Garlic crab is also popular in restaurants. Crabs are caught along the mangrove coast and sold at markets and by roadside vendors.
What about shrimp?
Shrimp is everywhere: in curry, fried rice, chow mein and cook-up rice. Much of the catch is seabob, a small Atlantic shrimp. In 2019 Guyana’s seabob fishery became the first in Guyana to earn Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification. The industry has paused trawling for several weeks around September and October in past years to protect stocks.
Dried shrimp is sold in markets and is a common thing to pack for home. Larger prawns, grilled with garlic and butter, turn up on restaurant menus.
Where can you eat seafood in Guyana?
Market fish ponds. Stabroek and Bourda markets in Georgetown both have fish sections. Vendors buy before dawn and start selling early in the morning. Read our Guyana markets guide.
Cook shops. Small lunch counters often serve a fish curry or fried fish with rice or roti on set days.
Coastal villages. Berbice, the Corentyne and Essequibo coasts have roadside fish sellers and home-style cooking.
Corrections to common claims
A few things you may read elsewhere are wrong. Shell Beach in Region 1 is a remote turtle-nesting beach with no beach shacks. The Rupununi is inland savannah and river country, so it is river fish there, not seafood. And “channa” in Guyana means chickpeas, not a catfish.
FAQ
What is the most popular fish in Guyana? Bangamary, gilbaka, hassar, butterfish and snapper are all widely eaten. Which is “best” depends on whom you ask.
Is Guyanese seafood spicy? Curries are well spiced, but the real heat comes from wiri wiri pepper sauce added at the table.
Is hassar the same as cascadura? Yes. It is the same armoured catfish that Trinidadians call cascadura.
Next step: For the rest of the menu, read our Guyanese food guide or Guyana food experiences.
