Abstract: Tintinnid ciliates are an important component of plankton communities and widely distribute in the coastal waters. However, in morphological studies, the tintinnids belonged to the poorly known groups, especially in the water of the South China Sea. In the winter of 2008, the tintinnids sampled from the coastal waters in the South China Sea (Guangdong) were investigated. The water temperature was 17-20℃ and the salinity was about 30-31. Samples were collected by a horizontal tow net from 1.5 m under the water surface. Part of samples were immediately stored in 4℃ for in vivo observation and the others were fixed in formalin at a final concentration of 5% for future observations of lorica characteristics. The morphological characteristics including lorica features were observed and described by using light microscopical method. In this present study, 16 species were indentified and they belonged to Tintinnopsis, Codonella, Stenosemella and Favella. Three of them were believed to be the first records of China, Codonella apicata Kofoid Campbell, 1929, Tintinnopsis turbo Meunier, 1919 and Stenosemella expansa Wailes, 1925. In addition, another three species were the first records in the semi-tropical and tropical areas of China, Tintinnopsis tubulosoides Meunier, 1910; Tintinnopsis lohmanni (J?rgensen, 1927) Laackmann, 1906, and Codonella rapa Kofoid Campbell, 1929. The other 10 species included Tintinnopsis beroidea Stein, 1867, Tintinnopsis acuminata (Daday, 1887) Kofoid Campbell, 1929, Tintinnopsis tocantinensis Kofoid Campbell, 1929, Tintinnopsis tubulosoides Meunier, 1910, Tintinnopsis tublosa Levander, 1900, Tintinnopsis clongata Daday, 1887, Tintinnopsis lohmanni (J?rgensen, 1927) Laackmann, 1906, Stenosemella parvicollis (Marshall, 1934) Hada, 1935, Favella campanula (Schmidt, 1901)J?rgensen, 1924, and Codonella rapa Kofoid Campbell, 1929.