Zooplankton in the northern South China Sea were studied using two different sizes of plankton nets. The nets had mesh sizes of 505 μm and 160 μm. The results showed that both nets caught large zooplankton equally well, but the smaller net caught more small copepods. Despite differences in species caught, the overall zooplankton communities were similar between the two nets. The nets can complement each other in capturing different sizes of zooplankton.