Mastyavathar ...One of Dashavatharam

Matsya is generally represented as a four-armed figure with the upper torso of a man and the lower of a fish. Vishnu, Satyavrata who later was known as Manu was washing his hands in a river when a little fish swam into his hands and pleaded with him to save its life. He put it in a jar, which it soon outgrew. He then moved it to a tank, a river and then finally the ocean but to no avail. The fish then revealed himself to be Vishnu which can be seen in this patachitra.