To investigate the deposition and elimination rule of dietary xanthophyll in tissue of yellow catfish （Peheobagrus fulvidraco ）, the experimental fish were fed with basic diet （BD） and xanthophyll supplementation diet （XD, the supplemental xanthophyll was 37.5mg/kg diet） by using four feeding strategies： A（BD 14 days ＋XD 42 days）, B（BD 28 days ＋XD 28 days）, C（BD 42 days ＋XD 14 days） and D（XD 56 days）, total xanthophyll content in tissues of fish was detected at the 14th, 28th, 42th and 56th day. The results showed that feeding strategy did not affect growth performance significantly. Xan- thophyll content in skin increased with the feeding time of XD, it reached the highest level at the 28th, 42th, 56th and 56th day as 1.63, 1.89, 2.09, 2.58 mg,/kg in group A, B, C and D respectively, which were significantly different （P 〈 0.05 ）. Xanthophyll contents in liver and muscle increased more slowly with time compared with that in skin, and reached the prominent level only after 42 days. There were different trends of xanthophyll content between tissues when the fish was fed with XD substituting BD： xanthophyll content in skin continued to increase or remained unchanged after 14 days, and decreased to the previous level in 28 day then continued to decrease in the next days. Xanthophyll content in liver and muscle decreased rapidly to previous level after 14 days. The results indicated that dietary xanthophyll deposition in skin was quick, but its elimination was delayed. On the contrary, xanthophyll deposition in liver and muscle was slow, but eliminated rapidly. The results indicated that temporary removing （14 -28 days） of dietary xanthophyll may not affect the total xanthophyll content in skin of Pel- teobagrus fulvidraco.