A study on the community and distribution of phytoplankton of the Kum River Estuary has been done in fall, 1980 and spring, 1981. Ond hundred and one taxa representing 22 families, 41 genera, 107 species, 2 varieties, and 2 forms were identified. The community of the study area composed mainly of diatom species icluding the very small fraction of dinoflagellates, blue-greens and greens. The dominant species were Skeletonema costatum, Paralia sulcata, and Asterionella kariana. The total standing crop of phytoplankton of winter samples was 115,000 cells/1 in average and that of spring samples was, 1,320,333 cells/1 in average. Of the representative members, dominant species above appeared moree than 10% of the total standing crop, Skeletonema costatum being maximized up to 46%. In spring Asterionella japonica, Thalassionema nitzschioides, and Chaetoceros curvistetus appeared 3∼8%, and Thalassiosira excentricus 3% in winter. The distribuion of marine forms showed negative correlation with that of fresh water forms, although the brackish-water forms showed no relationship. This change pattern of marine, brackish and fresh-water forms are discussed with the results of time series analysis. A list of phytoplankton species observed in this study is added.