An investigation into the spatial distribution of copepod abundance, using an “Adriatic Trap”, in the epipelagic layer of the south Adriatic Sea, was performed during 4 cruises at 5 stations from April 1993 to June 1994. Samples were collected at 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 75, and 100 meter depths. Nauplii were the most abundant identified at all stations and depths, corresponding to an average of 69-81% of all copepod individuals. With respect to the total number of postnaupliar copepods, the 0-50 m layer was dominated by specimens of calanoids (49.7%), while in the 50-100 m layer, the most abundant taxa were cyclopoida-oncaeids (31.5%), cyclopoida-oithonids (23.5%) and harpacticoids (6.7%). Our research also clearly indicates that copepodites and small adult copepods, such as calanoids, Paracalanus parvus, Clausocalanus paululus, oithonids Oithona similis, Paroithona parvula, oncaeids Monothula subtilis, Oncaea zernovi, Spinoncaea ivlevi and harpacticoids Microsetella norvegica, M. rosea, were particularly dominant in the euphotic zone. Consequently, the problem of loss of small and undeveloped copepods through standard plankton nets requires that other quantitative methods must be utilised for an objective evaluation of total copepod population.Istraživanja prostorne raspodjele brojnosti kopepoda (veslonožaca) korištenjem uređaja «Adriatic» u epipelagičnom sloju južnog Jadrana obavljena su za vrijeme 4 krstarenja od travnja 1993 do lipnja 1994 na 5 glavnih postaja. Uzorci su uzeti na 0, 5, 10, 20, 50, 75 i 100 m dubine. Naupliji su bili najbrojniji na svim postajama i dubinama, sudjelujući prosječno od 69 do 81% od brojnosti svih kopepodskih jedinki. S obzirom na ukupne vrijednosti postnauplijarnih kopepoda u sloju 0 do 50 m prevladavaju kalanoidi (49,7%), dok su u sloju od 50 do 100 m dubine najbrojniji primjerci onceidnih ciklopoida (31,5%), oitonidnih ciklopoida (23,5%) i harpaktikoida (6,7%). Naša istraživanja jasno ukazuju da su kopepoditi i odrasli mali kopepodi kao: kalanoidi, Paracalanus parvus, Clausocalanus paululus, oitonidi Oithona similis, Paroithona parvula, onceidi Monothula subtilis, Oncaea zernovi, Spinoncaea ivlevi i harpaktikoidi Microsetella norvegica, M. rosea osobito brojni u eufotičkom sloju. Stoga problem gubljenja malih i nezrelih kopepoda kroz standardne planktonske mreže mora se rješavati korištenjem drugih kvantitativnih metoda s kojima bi postigli objektivniju procjenu ukupne kopepodske populacije
