With a diet that consists largely of land-dwelling insects, it serves as an important link between the terrestrial and aquatic aspects of its native range.

Bryconops giacopinii reaches 18 cm (7 in) long in total length (with the tail fin included),[1] which makes it the longest member of its genus.

[2] A close contender is the type species of Bryconops, B. alburnoides, which reaches 15 cm (6 in) in standard length (tail fin left out).

[3] B. giacopinii is a deep-bodied and robust fish, with silvery scales and a well-defined caudal ocellus (eyespot on the tail) in yellow or orange.

[5] The original also notes that B. giacopinii, under its basionym Autanichthys giacopinni, may have had some alliance with the fish genus Deuterodon, based on morphological properties.

[14] However, research in 2011 by Oliveira et al. determined that the genus Bryconops, alongside the genera Iguanodectes and Piabucus, should all be moved to the family Iguanodectidae, revived from the earlier work of German-American ichthyologist Carl H.

[21] Blackwater environments have their distinctive color due to the decay of organic matter, such as leaf litter, that leaches tannins into the water.

[22] The microbes responsible for this decay consume a large amount of the available dissolved oxygen,[23] which means that B. giacopinii is not a fish with high-oxygen needs; elsewise, it would not be suited to a blackwater habitat.

Though the conservation status of Bryconops giacopinii has not been evaluated by the IUCN, it has been found in the protected Caura National Park, which preserves at least a small portion of its range.

[19] However, nearby rivers, such as unprotected segments of the Caura, have been subject to a rise in illegal mining activity in recent years, which threatens to disrupt the environment.