Three exposed sandy beaches were selected to compare fluctuations in density of the most abundant species, and to verify the influence of spatial and temporal variations on the community structure. Sampling was carried out every three months, from June 1993 to May 1995, on Fora, Prainha, and Boqueirão Beaches. The first two beaches were classified by Dean's morphodynamic index (Ω) as intermediate, and the last as reflective. Slope, beach width and median grain size were significantly different among the beaches. Two-way analysis of variance revealed significant differences in species richness only among the beaches. No significant differences in density of the macrofauna between beaches and season were observed. However, Prainha Beach showed a higher temporal variation of the density of the macrofauna (and higher standard deviation) than the other two beaches. Emerita brasiliensis (Crustacea: Decapoda), Excirolana braziliensis (Crustacea: Isopoda), and Pseudorchestoidea brasiliensis (Crustacea: Amphipoda) were the most abundant species. Canonical correspondence analysis calculated the influence of the temporal variation as 27·5%; the influence of the environmental variation on community structure was 20·9%. The results suggest that in spite of the long-term fluctuations in species density, the beaches did not have temporal differences in the species richness and total density macrofauna during the study period.