A community of nine species of epifaunal invertebrates living on sand in shallow water was censused for six years. The community consisted of three coelenterates, three gastropods, two echinoderms and one decapod. Seven of the species had aggregated distributions, but individuals of the first and fourth most abundant ones were randomly distributed. The relationship of distribution to settlement and mortality is discussed. The importance of each species population in relation to its demands on the environment, and its effects on it, was assessed in terms of frequency, density, biomass, cover, and motility. The results suggest that it is often misleading to label some species in a community “important” and others “unimportant,” especially if this means that the latter are ignored in studies of community structure and dynamics. Populations of the nine species comprising the community remained constant (within sampling variability) over the six years. This community of few species, thus, appears to be a steady‐state system. This was unexpected in view of the short species list, the lack of indication of substantial interspecific interactions, and the rigorous conditions in the environment.