Abstract: We investigated the community structure of zooplankton and the associated environmental factors in the coastal area of Leizhou Peninsula, Guangdong Province, in the summer of 2010. A total of 87 species of zooplankton and 34 species/assemblages of planktonic larvae were identified. Among which, Copepoda (37 species) was the most abundant, accounting for 42.5% of all species, followed by Coelenterata (20, 23.0%), molluscs (8, 9.2%), Chaetognatha (7, 8.0%), Tunicata (6, 6.9%), Protozoa (4, 4.6%); Cladocera and Decapoda (2 each, 2.3%) and 1 species of Ostracoda (1.1%). The dominant species included 13 species of zooplankton and 3 assemblages of planktonic larvae. Copepod larvae were the only dominant assemblages that spread throughout the coastal area. Two copepods, Pavocalanus crassirostris and Microsetella norvegica, were the important dominant species in almost the entire coastal area. Zooplankton species richness increased from landward zone to seaward zone, but the abundance decreased from landward zone to seaward zone. Species richness was highest in the northeast area, followed by the southeast, northwest, southwest and south areas in sequence; the highest zooplankton abundance was found in the northwest area, followed by the southwest, northeast, southeast and south areas; and the highest zooplankton biomass was obtained in the northeast area, followed by the southwest, northwest, southeast and south areas. The horizontal distributions of zooplankton abundance and biomass corresponded well with human activities in the development and utilization of coastal zones. The average diversity index and evenness of species were 2.96 and 0.57 respectively. Correlation analysis indicated that zooplankton abundance was positively correlated with water temperature, total bacterial density and zooplankton biomass, negatively correlated with phosphate; Zooplankton biomass was positively related to TOC, total bacterial density, Chl a, phytoplankton cell abundance and pH, negatively related to salinity.