Barramundi (Lates calcarifer), a popular aquaculture species, has silver to bronze skin coloration with rare golden, “panda” (golden and black spots), and black variants. Increased production of these rare color variants is commercially desirable; however, the differences in skin-cell morphologies have not been characterized. Microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and immunohistochemistry were utilized to characterize morphological, ultrastructural, and cellular differences between barramundi color variants. Notably, melanophores, iridophores, and xanthophores were evident. Differences in the occurrence of melanin were visible, with a reduction in melanophores in the golden (average of 0.47 melanophores/cm²) versus the silver (average of 218.6 melanophores/cm²) or black (average of 462.9 melanophores/cm²) color phenotypes. Furthermore, a significant decrease in melanophores was observed in panda variant at the edge between golden and black patches: golden vs. edge (p < 0.001), golden vs. black (p < 0.001) and edge vs. black (p < 0.001). The TEM analysis revealed a distinct difference in melanophores and mature melanosomes, with stages 1, 2, 3, and 4 melanosomes present in silver variants and rare stage 1 (immature) melanosomes in golden variant. Furthermore, the immunohistochemical techniques provided independent and thorough documentation of the presence and maturity of melanophores and melanosomes across highly valued barramundi color variants. In conclusion, the color of barramundi appears to be driven by the presence/absence and number of melanophores in the skin layer.

尖吻鲈（Lates calcarifer）是一种流行的水产养殖品种，皮肤颜色为银色至青铜色，有罕见的金色、“熊猫”（金色和黑色斑点）和黑色变种。增加这些稀有颜色变体的产量在商业上是有利的；然而，皮肤细胞形态的差异尚未得到表征。利用显微镜、透射电子显微镜和免疫组织化学来表征尖吻鲈颜色变体之间的形态、超微结构和细胞差异。值得注意的是，黑色素细胞、虹色细胞和黄色细胞是明显的。^{黑色素出现的差异是显而易见的，金色的黑色素细胞（平均 0.47 个黑色素细胞/cm 2}）与银色的黑色素细胞（平均 218.6 个黑色素细胞/cm ²）相比有所减少。）或黑色（平均 462.9 个黑色素细胞/cm ²）颜色表型。此外，在熊猫变体中，在金色和黑色斑块之间的边缘观察到黑色素细胞显着减少：金色与边缘 ( p  < 0.001)、金色与黑色 ( p  < 0.001) 和边缘与黑色 ( p < 0.001）。TEM 分析揭示了黑素细胞和成熟黑素体的明显差异，银色变体中存在 1、2、3 和 4 阶段黑素体，金色变体中存在罕见的 1 阶段（未成熟）黑素体。此外，免疫组织化学技术提供了关于高价值尖吻鲈颜色变体中黑素细胞和黑素体的存在和成熟度的独立且全面的记录。总之，澳洲肺鱼的颜色似乎是由皮肤层中黑色素细胞的存在/不存在和数量决定的。