Planktonic carnivores (chaetognaths, ctenophores, medusae and siphonophores) collected in the upper 200 metres of the Ibero-Moroccan bay and the western Mediterranean were used to obtain a classification of stations in terms of distinct faunistic zones. The planktonic community of the central sector of the Mediterranean shows a progressive devolution of abundance with the gradual disappearance of meroplanktonic and budding species and the increase of oceanic forms (Sagitta bipunctata, Eudoxoides spiralis and Rhopalonema velatum ). These faunistic zones of the Mediterranean, from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Ligurian Sea, can therefore be interpreted in terms of succession, from an initial state of maximal diversity and abundance caused by the mixing of populations of meroplanktonic, neritic, shallow and deep species that benefit from the very favorable trophic conditions.