As one of the most prominent external morphological features, color patterns play an important role in animal survival and communication. In order to understand morphological changes in the early development of Siniperca chautsi, CCD-Adapter anatomical microscope was used to observe the formation, distribution and main patterns (stripe, band and spot) of the pigment cells in the early stage, from embryo stage up to 40 days after hatching. At the same time, the skin was observed after tissue section. The results show that melanophores are first observed in the yolk sac and oil balls at embryonic stage, xanthophores appear on the head at the pre-hatching stage. After hatching, melanophores develop most prominently and erythrophores appear behind the eye and in the front of trunk (Fig. 1). After 5 days of age, xanthophores increase throughout the whole body and melanophores continue to develop and pattern formation begins (Fig. 2). Early color pattern formation processes of S.chautsi include: 1)Trunk band: some melanin on the back at 5 days old, the dorsal melanin and the abdominal melanin are connected at 14 days old (Fig. 4a﹣c). 2) Eye strip: the melanin above the gill cover increases at 10 days old, the hind strip part forms from the upper edge of gill cover to the front of the back at 12 days old, the front strip part forms from the upper jaw to the front of the eye at 17 days old (Fig. 4d﹣f). 3) Overhead strip: the black spots above the top of the head increase at 6 days old, these spots extend forward and backward at 18 days old. The black strip just above the top of the head forms at 23 days old (Fig. 4g﹣i). 4) Trunk spots: a small black spot appears at the bottom of the tail at 8 days old, three irregular black patches appear in the front of the tail at 15 days old. Five round black spots formed in the back of the torso at 25 days old (Fig. 4j﹣l). The results show that melanophores, xanthophores and erythrophores appear at S.chautsi′s body surface in early stage, the whole body is dominated by black color, the main pigment strips and spots gradually form in different modes at the later larval stages, and pigment layer composition and distribution are different in different skin parts.