Abstract: Based on the data of bottom trawl surveys in the vicinity of Pearl River estuary in August (summer), October (autumn), December (winter) 2006, and April (spring) 2007, the faunal characteristics and distribution pattern of crustaceans were analyzed. A total of 54 species belonging to 25 genera, 17 families, and 2 orders were collected, including 22 species of shrimps, 22 species of crabs, and 10 species of squills. Most of the crustaceans were tropical-subtropical warm-water species, a few of them were eurythermal species, and no warm-water and cold-water species occurred. Euryhaline species were most abundant, followed by halophile species, and the low-salinity species were the least. Most of the crustacean species belonged to the fauna of Indian Ocean-western Pacific Ocean. The faunal assemblages were closer to those of the East China Sea, Philippine Sea, Indonesia Sea, and the Japan Sea, and estranger with those of the Yellow Sea, Bohai Sea, and Korea Sea. The dominant species were Metapenaeus joyner, Oratosquilla oratoria, Charybdis miles, Portunus sanguinolentus, Harpiosquilla harpax, Charybdis feriatus, Charybdis japonica, Oratosquilla nepa, Solenocera crassicornis, Portunus trituberculatus, and Calappa philargius. The crustaceans had the largest species number (33) in autumn and the least one (26) in spring, and the highest stock density at the water depth of <40 m, especially at 10-20 m. The average stock density of the crustaceans was estimated to be 99.60 kg·km^-2, with the highest (198.93 kg·km^-2) in summer and the lowest (42.35 kg·km^-2) in spring. Of the 3 species groups, crabs had the highest stock density (41.81 kg·km^-2), followed by shrimps (38.91 kg·km^-2), and squills (18.88 kg·km^-2). The stock densities of the 3 species groups showed an obvious seasonal variation. Shrimps had the highest stock density (120.32 kg·km^-2) in summer and the lowest density (0
.67 kg·km^-2) in spring, while crabs and squills had the highest density (62.01 and 29.49 kg·km^-2, respectively) in winter and the lowest density (24.64 and 6.30 kg·km^-2, respectively) in autumn.

Key words: crustacean, species composition, faunal characteristics, distribution pattern, vicinity of Pearl River estuary, vegetation rehabilitation, soil carbon, soil nitrogen, cycle.