Based on data collected at 7 stations 4 times a year in 1985 and 1986, composition and distribution of meiobenthic communities in the Polish part of the Szczecin Lagoon, a eutrophic and polluted water body connected with the Baltic Sea, is presented. The data show a tendency to reduced total meiobenthos densities and diversity from the lower to upper reaches of the lagoon. The meiobenthic communities studied were dominated by nematodes, ostracods ranking second in numerical importance. Harpacticoid copepods were most abundant at the outer stations which are influenced by Baltic inflows. Most of the 10 harpacticoid species recorded in the lagoon were found at the outer stations (lower reaches) as well. Similarity analysis allowed to separate three zones within the lagoon: (1) the outer zone, its stations showing most abundant and diverse meiobenthic communities; (2) the innermost zone (upper reaches) with the least abundant and qualitatively impoverished communities; and (3) the intermediate zone
