2 present address: CeFas, Pakefield road, lowestoft, nr33 0Ht, uK.summary: spatial distributions of Cu, Pb, Cd, ni and zn concentrations in brown shrimps Crangon crangon (linnaeus, 1758) collected on a cruise of FrV Walther Herwig III to the southern north sea in January 2004, were investigated on a scale of 18 x 18 km to evaluate the range of spatial autocorrelations for the different variables under study. semivariogram models obtained by geostatistical procedures indicated a distinct increase in variability for most variables with sampling distance. Only if samples are taken at distances above the estimated values for the practical range of the semivariogram can stochastic independence of the data be assumed. these are 6.6 km for Cd, 3.0 km for ni and 5.2 km for Pb. Contour plots revealed a clear coincidence of high values for Cd, ni and Pb with low shrimp mean body wet weight. nevertheless, spatial autocorrelations were rather weak, since classical and geostatistical population estimates for the means and the 95% confidence intervals were in good agreement. the low detected concentrations of Pb in C. crangon were in good agreement with reported data for decapod crustaceans from other regions. For zn reported values were distinctly below our 95% confidence intervals, while for Cu they were slightly above and for Cd distinctly above concentrations in C. crangon from this study. For ni no comparative values exist. We conclude that with this integrated biomonitoring approach metal concentrations could be assessed more precisely and relations between biotic and abiotic variables could be evaluated.Keywords: Crangon crangon, decapod crustaceans, biomonitoring, metals, geostatistics, spatial analysis. resumen: Análisis espacial de la concentración de metales en el camarón gris Crangon Crangon (Linnaeus, 1758) en el Mar del Norte meridional. -se analiza la distribución espacial de las concentraciones de Cu, Pb, Cd, ni y zn en el camarón gris Crangon crangon (linnaeus, 1758) en muestras recolectadas durante una campaña a bordo del BO "Walther Herwig iii" en el mar del norte meridional en enero de 2004, en un área de 18 x 18 km. se investiga el alcance de las funciones de autocorrelación espacial de las distintas variables estudiadas. el análisis de los modelos de semivariograma obtenidos mediante técnicas geostadísticas indica un aumento de la variabilidad para la mayoría de las variables con la distancia. sólo cuando se toman las muestras a distancias superiores al alcance práctico del semivariograma se puede asumir independencia estocástica entre los datos. los alcances calculados son 6.6 km para Cd, 3.0 km para ni y 5.2 km para Pb. los mapas de isodensidad muestran una clara coincidencia de altos valores de Cd, ni y Pb con valores bajos de peso medio húmedo de camarón. sin embargo, las autocorrelaciones espaciales observadas son relativamente débiles, ya que las estimaciones obtenidas para la media y el intervalo de confianza al 95% mediante técnicas geostadísticas y técnicas clásicas coinciden. los bajos valores ...