Major environmental variables related to north-south differences in the macrozoobenthic community in adjacent sea areas of the Yangtze River estuary, China

•Spatial differences of environmental variables and macrozoobenthos were found.•A phenomenon of patchy distribution for macrozoobenthos was found in the sea areas.•Water depth contributed most to the spatial macrozoobenthic community differences.•The Changjiang Diluted Water was an important driving factor for the differences.•Macrozoobenthos in the north suffered more disturbance than those in the south.