This study aims to examine spatial and temporal variations of zooplankton species composition, density and biomass distribution and community structure, based on the data obtained from three separate cruises carried out in November 1997, April and July 1999. Results show that 244 species of zooplankton and 8 groups of planktonic larvae were identified, which were dominated by copepods, followed by amphipods, ostracods and medusae. The total species were 201 and 198 for the cruises of November 1997 and July 1999, respectively, and no obvious seasonal variation of species richness was observed. The distribution of zooplankton species richness decreased from pelagic to coastal waters.Average richness of species in each station was higher in the cruises of November 1997(62) and April 1999(61) than in the cruise in July 1999 (56), which was mainly a result from the pelagic or coastal water mass movement made by the monsoon. Zooplankton in the upper waters (0-100 m) around Nansha Islands belonged to the typical tropic pelagic fauna,most of them were pelagic warm-water species, followed by coastal warm-water species and euryhaline warm-water species. The number of dominant species ranged from 5 to 7 in each cruise. No obvious seasonal succession of dominant species was observed. Sagitta enflata, Cypridina nami, Cosmocalanus darwinii, Pleuromamma gracilis and Echinopluteus larva were the main dominant species. The average of zooplankton biomass and density in three cruises were 31, 32, 28 mg.m-3 and 31, 39, 35 ind.m-3, respectively. Copepods were the most abundant, followed by chaetognaths. Zooplankton high biomass distributed mainly in the northwestern waters around Nansha Islands, and generally occurred in the areas of oceanic front and upwelling.The main reason for zooplankton quantity without obvious seasonal variation was the relative steady temperature dynamics in the waters around Nansha Islands.