Invertebrates play an important role as a fishery resource. Catches of finfish have declined in recent years, yet invertebrate catches have continued to increase. However, little research has been done on the invertebrate commu- nity in the Yangtze River estuary and its adjacent waters. In this study, the characteristics of the invertebrate community dynamics in the Yangtze River estuary and its adjacent waters (30°45′–32°N and 122°30′–123°30′E) were investigated based on data collected from fishery surveys conducted in autumn 2009–2011. The relationships between the spatial and temporal variations in the invertebrate community and related environmental factors were also analyzed. The results indicate that 25 invertebrate species (14 crustaceans and 11 mollusks) were caught, and they belonged to 8 orders and 15 families, which was well below the number of invertebrates captured in the 1980s (31 species). The species replace- ment rates (R) from 2009 to 2010 and 2010 to 2011 were > 50%, indicating species succession and declining inverte- brate community stability. The dominant invertebrate species in the community were Portunus trituberculatus, Trachypenaeus curvirostris, Loligo japonica, and Charybdis bimaculata, and they presented a succession phenomenon during autumn 2009–2011. The individual and biomass densities of the invertebrate community showed an increasing trend with minimum values in 2009 (4.57 kN/km2 and 185.52 kg/km2, respectively) and maximum values in 2011 (73.46 kN/km2 and 233.11 kg/km2, respectively). The significant interannual variations (P<0.05) in invertebrate species diversity (Species richness, Shannon–Wiener index, and Pielou evenness) were lower in the estuary than those in Laizhou and Jiaozhou Bays. The invertebrate species were classified into two assemblages based on a two-way indica- tor species analysis, which showed clear interannual variations in the community. A redundancy analysis clarified that surface salinity and bottom temperature were the major factors affecting the invertebrate assemblage structure. In con- clusion, the variations in invertebrate community structure were embodied in the alteration of dominant species and diversity during autumn 2009–2011, and temperature and salinity were the primary limiting factors driving the spatial and temporal variations in the invertebrate community in the Yangtze River estuary and its adjacent waters.