In OpenCV header "types_c.h" there are a set of defines which generate these, the format is
CV_bits{U|S|F}C<number_of_channels>
So for example CV_8UC3
means 8 bit unsigned chars, 3 colour channels - each of these names map onto an arbitrary integer with the macros in that file.
The cv::Mat::type to an image:
+--------+----+----+----+----+------+------+------+------+
| | C1 | C2 | C3 | C4 | C(5) | C(6) | C(7) | C(8) |
+--------+----+----+----+----+------+------+------+------+
| CV_8U | 0 | 8 | 16 | 24 | 32 | 40 | 48 | 56 |
| CV_8S | 1 | 9 | 17 | 25 | 33 | 41 | 49 | 57 |
| CV_16U | 2 | 10 | 18 | 26 | 34 | 42 | 50 | 58 |
| CV_16S | 3 | 11 | 19 | 27 | 35 | 43 | 51 | 59 |
| CV_32S | 4 | 12 | 20 | 28 | 36 | 44 | 52 | 60 |
| CV_32F | 5 | 13 | 21 | 29 | 37 |