Pigment cells are the basis of skin pattern formation. In order to understand different types and arrangement of pigment cells in different skin pattern areas of mandarin fish (Siniperca chuatsi), the skin from pattern area, non-pattern area and their junction area were observed with light and electron microscopes. The results showed that the skin contained melanophores, xanthophores, erythrophores and iridophores, which were mainly distributed in the epidermis and pigment layer. The pattern areas include eye stripe, trunk band and trunk spots that contained melanophores in both the epidermis and pigment layer. The skin non-pattern area only contained a small amount of melanophores in the dermis (Fig. 2). In the skin trunk pattern area (band, strips), different pigment cells were obviously distributed in order in pigment layer: from the outside to the inside, xanthophores, erythrophores, melanophores and iridophores were distributed (Fig. 5b), and the reflective platelets in iridophores were long and neatly arranged horizontally (Fig. 5e). In the non-patterned areas of the trunk xanthophores, erythrophores and iridophores were observed from the outside to the inside (Fig. 5c), and the reflective small plates in iridophores were short and irregularly arranged (Fig. 5f). Pigment layer of the eye stripe contained these four kinds of pigment cells, and the number of pigment cells which were irregularly arranged in this region was small, and melanin granules were large in size (Fig. 5a). At the skin junction area, the number of melanophores in the pigment layer gradually decreased toward the non-patterned area, while the number of iridophores gradually increased (Fig. 5d). The result showed that the types, distributions and arrangements of pigment cells were distinctly different among pattern areas, non-pattern area and junction area. Results of this study provide some basic information for understanding pigmentation patterning mechanism in mandarin fish.