The spatial and temporal patterns of species composition and abundance of fisheswere studied bimonthly using two fyke nets during February 1996 to February 1997 in themangrove swamps along the western coast of Taiwan.A total of 32 families and 90species was collected in this study.The community was dominated numerically byseveral species,in which Liza macrolepis,L.affinis,Ambassis urotaenia,andOrecochromis spp.made up 64.4% of the total catch.The diversity(H')and evenness(Pielou index)of the fish community were low and showed little seasonal change becausea few species dominated the assemblage on an irregulated basis.The overall species richness varied according to the stations and the sampling periods.Results of clustering andordination analysis indicated that spatial factor contributed to difference in the fish communitystructure,temporal variation have substantial shifts in the fish composition during thesampling periods at northern part.Meanwhile,the species composition of fishes were onapparent no revealed seasonal variation at southern part.