The effects of snakehead (Channa argus) culture on zooplankton community structure were studied by the comparative research of snakehead culture pond to surrounding areas including drainage region and Nanyang Lake. The results showed that species number (24 species) and density (1 032 ind/L) of zooplankton in snakehead pond were dramatically lower than those of surrounding areas ( the species number was 64 and 65, the density was 1 995 ind/L and 2 569 ind/L in drainage region and near lake region, respectively), while biomass (4.65 mg/L) was significantly higher, which may be attributed to that biomass in snakehead pond was mainly composed of macrozooplankton (95.70%) such as Cladocera, Copepoda and Nauplius, while micro Protozoa and Rotifera have a lower proportion (4.30%), but they were the main component in surrounding areas. Different from the surrounding areas, the dominant species in pond were Daphnia magna and Brachionus calyciflorus. Comprehensive analysis of dominant species and diversity index showed that snakehead pond was moderately polluted, drainage region was mildly to moderately polluted, while waters near Nanyang Lake was slightly polluted, which indicated that snakehead culture had resulted in pollution in surrounding areas.