We studied the effects of the parasitic dinoflagellate Ellobiopsis chattoni on the winter mortality of natural population of the calanoid copepod Calanus finmarchicus in the Norwegian Sea (materials was collected in March-April 1989 and September 1990). Dinoflagellate infection occurred during autumn (the infection rates of copepods with E. chattoni was 15%, as average). Average mortality rate in C. finmarchicus was about 0.08% per day, or about one-tenth of total mortality in winter period.