Abstract: In order to study the community characteristics and variation of zooplankton in the coastal water of South Yellow Sea in spring, we analyzed the composition, abundance, dominant species, biodiversity of zooplankton and the correlation between zooplankton and environmental factors based on samples collected by WP2 plankton net in 3 surveys from April to June, 2017. 41 zooplankton taxa and 22 pelagic larvae were identified. Copepods, hydromedusae and pelagic larvae comprised the largest number of species. The variation of zooplankton community in the coastal waters of Jiaodong peninsula, Haizhou bay and the Northern Jiangsu were significantly different in spatial and temporal. The uneven temporal-spatial temperature change was the main reason for the difference. Because of the cold-water mass, the change trend of zooplankton community in the coastal water of Jiaodong peninsula varied remarkablyfrom the other two areas. Paracalanus parvus has a high dominance index in investigated areas, which also had a great impact on the total density and diversity index of zooplankton. The Shannon-Weiner index and k-dominance curve show that the Haizhou bay has the highest zooplankton diversity, followed by the coastal waters of Jiaodong peninsula, and the Northern Jiangsu.